Hero and the Doctor: The Time of Shadows
by SilverTortoise
Summary: Part 3/4 of the TIME GIRL SERIES - Hero and the Doctor are now married, but already their new life together is fraught with danger. Once more, Earth is in need of a doctor... 11/OC. SEQUEL TO "A Girl Named Hero, A Time Lord Called Doctor" and "Hero and the Doctor: The Forest of Whispers."
1. Prologue

I fiddled with the lace on my skirt, biting my lip as Amy carefully styled my hair. She tucked a pearl comb into the curls, arranging the rest around my face.

"You're gonna be so pretty, Hero," she murmured, patting my shoulders and letting me take a moment to examine her work on my hair. I touched one of the curls with a trembling finger, then sat up straighter and gazed seriously at myself in the mirror. _Not bad..._

"Okay," I breathed, straightening the shoulder on my white dress, "Okay, I'm ready for this."

"Good," Amy chuckled, "Because I'm gonna push you in there if you start to chicken out."

I laughed, feeling myself relax a little. I stood, patting down my skirt and turning to face the red-head. She was dressing in a knee-length, blue dress, clutching two bunches of white flowers.

"Let's do this," I smiled, taking one of the bouquets and looping my arm through Amy's. She grinned, flipping her ginger hair back from her face, quickly checking behind me to make sure that the back of my dress was laying flat.

"Come on, then," she said, leading me to the door, "Let's go make him the happiest man in the universe. I grinned, feeling my face flush with nerves and happiness all at once. My hearts thudded back and forth across my chest, and my entire body thrummed with warmth.

Amy led us down the hall, stopping momentarily to make sure that she still had the ring. She did.

This was my wedding day. Today I would bond myself to an ancient alien, the protector of humans, the most intelligent, oblivious, clumsy, brave, and attractive man I'd ever met.

Today, I was marrying the Doctor.


	2. The Doctor Disappears

**Welcome back, everyone! :)**

**Thanks for all of your awesome comments and encouragement for my previous stories. This latest installment is obviously going to be a bit more gritty (hence the M rating) and more romantic (again, M)... Hope you enjoy! **

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><p>My Time Lord mind allowed me to notice every detail in the restaurant, every single feature on the faces at our table, but I focused completely on the man beside me. The Doctor had changed from his usual brown tweed into a posh black suit for the wedding, the white silk ribbon we'd bound around our hands during the ceremony tucked into his breast pocket. I couldn't stop glancing at him, admiring his floppy head of hair, his long, angular body relaxed in his chair. His gray-green-blue eyes kept meeting mine, even when we were talking to our wedding guests, and each time our eyes met a thrill would travel from his mind to mine.<p>

Our guests, which included my mom (she still didn't know that either the Doctor or I was an alien), Amy and Rory, a very sweet couple named Sophie and Craig who apparently were old friends of the Doctor, and one other man, James, who had conducted the ceremony. According to the Doctor, he only appeared human , but was actually a shape-shifter who was certified throughout the galaxy to conduct most species' marriage ceremonies. We'd worked in the Time Lord tradition of wrapping a ribbon around our hands, binding us together. I'd told my mom that it was one of those "new age" traditions that we'd wanted to include.

My mom was also the only person who didn't call the Doctor "Doctor," but rather John. The other members of the wedding party knew not to say anything about this, and as far as my mom was concerned I was planning to keep my same last name, and I was getting married to Dr. John Wilson, a doctor of cheese-making I'd met at school. All of this secrecy had been hard at first, but I'd gradually come to terms with the idea that being a Time Lady, married to such a famous Time Lord as the Doctor, required a few secrets to really fly.

Amy and Sophie began clinking the sides of their champagne flutes, chanting "_Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!_" I grinned at the now-blushing Doctor, who gazed at me with shy eyes and leaned forward. We kissed for several seconds, hearing the cheers from the others at our table as we broke apart, slightly breathless. I could feel my hearts beat slightly faster, and the Doctor's ancient eyes sought mine, gleaming with happiness. We held hands under the table as we continued our celebration meal, his long, elegant fingers gently rubbing my wrist and palm.

"Toast time!" Rory called, rising from his seat and grinning from ear to ear. He had served as best man to the Doctor and seemed eager to give his speech. He, of course, had been carefully instructed to keep certain bits of information from his speech to protect my mom's innocence in this matter. The rest of us smiled up at him as he raised his glass, looking directly at the Doctor. The Time Lord beside me smiled around at his human friends, and I could feel a thin thread of regret mingled with his happiness as he squeezed my hand under the table.

"Doctor... Wilson," Rory began, his ears growing slightly red, "you've always been there for us when we've needed you. And... you've been a good friend. The best, actually. No matter how oblivious you may have been about girls before this, " The entire party chuckled, and the Doctor blushed, looking confused and adorable, "you seem to have found the most amazing lady to be your wife, someone you can take care of, love, cherish, and spend the rest of your life with." Rory paused, his eyes glinting mischievously, "And Doctor? I wish you both the happiest life anyone could wish for. Just... don't forget your anniversary." We all laughed, including the Doctor.

"I promise, I won't," he murmured to me, looking a bit concerned that I'd be angry with him. I winked at him, squeezing his hand again and giggling.

"Hero," Rory continued, and I looked up expectantly, "We haven't know you as long as the Doctor, but already you've shown yourself to be a loyal friend, an incredibly smart woman, and the perfect partner for our friend the Doctor. I wish you every happiness with him as you start your life together." I smiled to big, feeling a bit teary. Amy reached over and patted my arm, and my mom wiped her eyes. Rory raised his glass higher, "To Hero and the Doctor, many happy years for the both of you." Everyone toasted us, smiling and taking small sips of their drinks, offering their own words of encouragement and hopes for a happy future. The Doctor and I positively beamed, a bit embarrassed from their kind words.

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><p>Eventually the evening winded down and our guests began to gather their belongings, bidding the Doctor and I good night and best wishes for our honeymoon. My mom hugged the pair of us tightly, grinning widely and telling us to "visit <em>any<em> time, okay? Well, take some time to yourselves, but come by whenever you want!" and she trotted off into the night, heading home. Sophie and Craig also took their leave, hugging us both and smiling hugely. I hoped to meet them again sometime soon, they were very sweet and seemed to know a lot more about the Doctor than they let on. The shape-shifter priest also took his leave, walking off into the bushes and disappearing in a flash of brilliant light.

Amy and Rory were left with us.

"So, you headed off, then?" Amy asked the Doctor.

He nodded. "Thank you for... for everything, Ponds..." he murmured, letting the pair of them embrace him. Then they hugged me as well, and Amy looked at the pair of us with teary eyes.

"See you around," Rory said, then chuckled, "Have a bit of fun, yeah?" We laughed, and I could feel my face grow hot as the Doctor gently slid his arm around my waist. Our fingers intertwined, and I could feel his mind flitting very close to mine.

We waved to the Ponds, and retreated towards the waiting TARDIS, hand in hand. Amy and Rory rounded the bend in the road, heading towards their hotel building.

When we'd reached the blue doors of the time machine, we stopped, facing each other but not meeting each other's gaze.

"Um..." The Doctor scratched his cheek, meeting my gaze with nervous eyes, "So, are... do you want to go in?"

I shook my head in disbelief at him, then through my arms around his neck and kissed his breath away. He clung to me, his elegant hands clasped firmly around my waist as we swayed together. I let my lips part, and his tongue gently brushed against mine, sending shudders down my spine.

We were interrupted suddenly by a deep, ominous gong sound, reverberating from the TARDIS itself.

The Doctor jumped, pulling his head away from me and looking up in shock. The gong sounded again, deep and shaking in my very bones.

"Oh no no no no no no!" he cried, fumbling for the TARDIS key and jamming it in the lock. He paused, as the gong continued to sound, turning a stricken face towards me and taking both of my hands. "I'm so, so sorry, Hero, but I have to check what's wrong, and I don't want you to follow me inside. Do you understand? Don't follow me, I can't stand the thought of anything happening to you..." He kissed my again, lingering, and after our lips parted I stared at him in growing fear. He gently kissed my forehead, squeezing my hands.

"I'll be right back, just give me a few minutes." Turned back towards the doors, opening one.

I grabbed his jacket. "Doctor!"

He turned back, his face drawn and sad.

"I love you, and don't forget it," I murmured, brushing my fingers against his slender cheek, "Come back to me in one piece, okay?"

His eyes shown despite his obvious worry. "I love you, Hero Smith the hero," he whispered, and then he disappeared inside the TARDIS. The door swung closed behind him.

I stood there by myself, listening to the deadly gong sounds coming from the time machine before me. I'd never heard this sound before, but it filled me with a dread I couldn't explain. I kicked at the blue doors, clenching my jaw. _Come on, silly girl, give me back my husband! You can't keep him forever..._

I gasped as the TARDIS began to dematerialize in front of me, the light on top flashing as the deep sounds continued to reverberate. I screamed, trying to touch the phone box and feeling nothing. I could hear running feet behind me, Amy's voice calling to me and Rory swearing. I stumbled back, feeling tears on my face as the time machine flickered away completely, stirring up leafs and the fabric of my skirt as it went.

Amy and Rory staggered up on either side of me, breathing hard, as I stood silently looking at the spot where the TARDIS had just been.

"What... that... _hell_..." Amy breathed, her voice constricted with emotion.

I shuddered, a silent sob shaking me.

"He'll be back, he'll be fine," Rory soothed, patting my arm, and I made myself nod.

"Y-you can stay with us," Amy whispered, taking my arm. I let the pair of them lead me away, unable to think of anything except what could have possibly happened to call the Doctor away tonight, of all nights.

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><p>I didn't see the Doctor for three days.<p>

And when the TARDIS finally re-materialized in the alley behind the hotel where Amy, Rory and I were staying, all three of us rushed out to meet it.

The Doctor did not emerge.


	3. Three Days, Six Weeks

The TARDIS stood silently in the alley, the light on top dimmed.

"Oh my god..." I hurried over towards the TARDIS doors, Amy and Rory hard on my heels. I reached for the door latch, but found that it was locked. "Let me in!" I pounded on the wooden door, feeling my palm burn with pain, "_Open right now so I can get to my husband!_"

I gasped and jerked my hand back as the door unlocked itself, swinging outwards towards me. Apparently the time machine recognized me as a Time Lady, and I felt a twinge of thankfulness as I seized the door, pulling it open completely. I could hear Rory and Amy breathing hard behind me as I stepped inside, surprised to find the large console room only dimly lit. The air felt so still that I half-imagined I couldn't properly catch my breath.

After taking a few quick steps past the door, I stopped dead. My throat closed until I couldn't take a single breath. The Doctor lay crumpled on the ground beside the center console, turned away from me.

"_Doctor!_" I couldn't stop the gasping scream that escaped my lips as I rushed madly towards him, arms outstretched. Rory gave a shout behind me, galloping up by my side, and we reached the Doctor at the same time. I skidded down onto the floor beside the Time Lord, calling his name. He lay on his side, his eyes closed in his peaceful face. For one terrible, heart-breaking moment I thought that he was dead, and all I could do was wail his name as I stroked his mop of hair back from his forehead. But his skin was warm, feverish actually, and Rory felt his chest with professional hands and confirmed that the Doctor was still breathing.

The nurse slowly turned the Doctor over onto his back, checking his pulse and starting to pull aside his clothes. Now that I knew he was still alive, I could take in the rest of him. He was still dressed in his wedding clothes, but they were tattered and torn in several places. His skin was flushed with fever, his chest now clearly rising and falling, since he was lying on his back. As Rory began to examine the Doctor for injuries, Amy knelt down beside me. There were tears on her face, and I realized that she'd also thought that he was dead. My hearts clenched as she gave me a stricken look.

Rory made a small sound, and I quickly returned my attention to the Doctor. In his searching, Rory had opened the Time Lord's buttoned shirt, exposing his pale skin and a series of long, thin cuts across his slim chest and belly. I gasped, leaning forward in alarm as Rory carefully examined the wounds.

"Knife cuts, not too new," he announced in his best nurse voice, but his hands were shaking slightly. I bit my lip to keep from crying. Someone had obviously hurt the Doctor, and my hands balled into fists as I contemplated what I'd do to such a person. Rory carefully stripped the Doctor down to his waist, searching carefully with his eyes and hands for any other wounds. "I need to find out what's giving him this fever so we can treat him in the TARDIS sick bay," Rory muttered, turning the still-unconscious Doctor over onto his side again, checking his back. The skin there was smooth and unblemished. Nothing there.

It was then that I noticed a small stain on the upper thigh of the Doctor's left leg, like blood soaking through the fabric of his tattered trousers. I pointed to it wordlessly, and Rory quickly tore the fabric the rest of the way aside to reveal a nasty-looking bite mark, torn into the Time Lord's upper leg. I flinched when I saw it, the raw painfulness of it shooting straight to my hearts.

"Oh..." Amy whispered, and Rory moved quickly, scooping the Doctor up in his arms and carting him away from me. Amy and I leaped to our feet, jogging after the teetering nurse as he staggered towards the sick bay.

"There may be infection," he called, "we've got to get him stabilized, get his fever down, get him awake..." He trotted down the hall and into the first pair of automatic sliding doors, Amy and I running behind him. Inside, the sick bay was a vast white room lined with a few medical beds and an abundance of equipment, odd-looking tools, and scanners. Rory gently laid the Doctor down on the nearest bed, moving to gather up heart monitors and a few scanners. I stood next to the Doctor's head, staring down at his still, quiet face. I wished for his eyelids to flutter, for him to open his beautiful, ancient eyes, and tell me everything was going to be okay. I bit my lip, hot tears prickling the corners of my eyes as Rory began attaching various nodes to the Doctor's chest and abdomen. Various monitors started beeping various things, but all I could focus on was the motionless face of the Time Lord.

"I'm going to take a closer look at that bite on his leg," Rory muttered, snapping on sterile gloves and leaning over the wounded leg. He touched the wound carefully, his face serious and thoughtful. All at once the Doctor's whole body jerked and a low grown issued from his throat. His eyes squeezed tightly shut in pain as I took hold of his shoulders, making sure he didn't move and hurt himself. A sob escaped me as the Doctor shuddered again. Rory was still examining the bite, but was hurrying and biting his lip as he did so.

"It's okay, love, it's okay," I murmured, stroking the Doctor's face. Rory finished his examination, getting an IV and inserting it smoothly into the Time Lord's arm.

"For the pain," he grunted, and got some things to clean the wound, "I think it's infected, that's causing his fever..."

I watched wordlessly as he cleaned and dressed the wound, my hands still resting on the Doctor's shoulder and face, hoping that, if he could feel me, that it would sooth him. The pain medication seemed to be working, because his muscles relaxed and his face smoothed.

"Now we just have to wait and see, but I'm going to keep running tests," Rory explained to Amy and I, and both of us girls let out long breaths and looked at each other.

"What... what do you think has happened?" Amy breathed, voicing my own thoughts.

"Dunno..." Rory wiped his forehead, looking sad, "The marks on his chest are half-healed, but obviously deliberate knife cuts. The bite, I don't really know... I took a sample, I'm testing it to look for genetic material from whatever bit him."

"Can we wake him?" I murmured.

"You can try, I haven't sedated him or anything," the nurse replied.

He stripped off his gloves and drew a soft blanket over the Doctor as I leaned over my husband. Then the Ponds hugged each other silently, withdrawing a ways from the bed. I stooped down, lightly brushing the Doctor's forehead with my lips, breathing in his scent. It amazed me how calm his face looked in sleep. Every line was smoothed, the usual swarm of emotions hidden along with his closed eyes.

"_It's time for you to wake up, Doctor,_" I murmured, placing my hands on either side of his face, "_Come __on, open your eyes, please..._" He didn't move, and my chest constricted. I reached out for his mind with mine, searching for a way for him to hear me.

_Please open your eyes, love, come on, I need you... _

_Come on..._

_Come on..._

_Come on!_

And at last I saw what I wanted to see, his eyelashes fluttering and his lips parting slightly as a sigh escaped them. I made a small sound of triumph, kissing his forehead again. He frowned slightly, then peeked one eye open at me.

"_Hey, love,_" I murmured, smiling for the first time since our wedding day.

He opened his other eye, staring hard at me. Then he gasped, trying to sit up, but I held him still so he wouldn't hurt himself.

"_Hero..._" he breathed, letting me hold him. Amy and Rory rushed over, Rory checking all of the monitors as he did so.

"I'm here, Doctor, you're safe now. What – what happened? Can you remember?"

"_What day is it?_" he breathed, looking concerned, "What day? What day, tell me!"

"February 3rd, 2012," I replied, concern flooding through me as the Doctor's eyes darted back and forth between the three of us. "You've been gone three days, love."

"No, no..." he muttered, shutting his eyes, "No, I must have miscalculated..."

"What...?"

"Hero... Hero, I'm so so sorry, I was gone for so long, I forgot the exact day to come back, and... and I was delirious, I... I made a mistake..."

"Wait..." I felt cold as I looked down into his feverish, sad eyes, "How long have you... been gone?"

"Six weeks," he groaned, laying a trembling hand across his eyes, "I was gone for six weeks..."


	4. The Temporal Distortion

**Poor Hero, poor Doctor... Their new marriage just can't catch a break, can it?**

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><p>Amy and Rory had decided to retreat to the TARDIS console room, now that the Doctor seemed out of immediate danger, to go through all the data gathered by the time machine to figure out what had happened.<p>

I remained with the Doctor, cradling his head in my arms. We stared at each other for a few moments, and then I spoke very sternly, "Don't... _ever_... do that to me again, okay? I thought you... I thought..." Words failed me as all of my bottled-emotions flooded out. I couldn't stop my eyes filling with tears, one spilling out onto my cheek. His brow furrowed in concern, the Doctor reached up a hand, wiping away my tear and then looking at his fingers like he'd never seen anything like it. He swallowed, his gaze returning to mine.

"I promise," he murmured, as I traced his temple and cheekbones with my fingers, not wanted to move away from him. "I'm sorry I was pulled away... on that night of all nights, not to have control over what was happening..." He shuddered, and I pulled his blanket more around him. "I never stopped thinking about you, Hero," he whispered, his ancient eyes full of pain, "You kept me going, I was able to escape and make it back because of you."

"Es-escape?" I stammered, arranging his hair with my fingers.

"I'm afraid that there are some... unusual occurrences that have just started affecting Earth, occurrences which may be caused by the same temporal anomaly which forced the TARDIS to take off with me the night of our wedding. Hero, it appears that... that our marriage may have caused a few problems. Some people don't want us to be together, they're trying to... distract me..."

I stared at him, confused and worried at what he was saying.

"How could anyone possibly know? That priest, _he_ didn't..."

"No, he hasn't breathed a word, but we didn't keep very tight security, and apparently someone out there, someone who... doesn't like me... is creating trouble on earth for me, giving me a problem which must be solved before it's too late. They know I can't simply turn away as humans die, they're hoping to keep me away from you, maybe even long enough so that they can get to you..." He clutched at my hands, his eyes wide. "This can't happen! As soon as I felt the TARDIS leaving, I realized how much danger you were in, and... I hated myself for leaving you behind..."

I tenderly kissed his forehead, letting him know that it was alright, resting my forehead against his to share a bit of calm with his mind.

"These wounds..." I murmured, "what happened? How did you get hurt? Will... will you be okay?" I couldn't help the wobble in my voice.

The Doctor smiled at me, "Ah, well, Rory the Roman has managed to take great care of me, I'm sure I'll be fine in a few hours or so, remember our Time Lord physiology? You healed much faster than the normal rate, even as a human. I'll be just fine, I promise." His told me that he was telling the truth, and it made me feel less panicky. "When the TARDIS re-materialized after it took me, I decided to go and see where I was, which... was a bit reckless of me, I admit..." His angular face flushed slightly as he smiled apologetically at me. "Anyway, some thugs were outside waiting for me, and they grabbed me and questioned me for a bit, they thought I knew something about what was causing the temporal distortions. I told them I didn't, of course, but... they, er, didn't believe me."

I bit my lip as I slowly traced one of the healing knife cuts on his chest, counting eight in total. They'd "questioned" him for quite some time. And the bite on his leg... Probably from one of their animals they had all riled up just for such an occasion as getting information from the Doctor.

"Hey..." The Doctor placed a hand against my face, getting me to look at him, "I'm alright, I promise. It's all over now, they didn't harm me permanently." I nodded wordlessly, still feeling the creamy-smooth skin of his abdomen which was crossed with the scabbed lines. I hadn't touched him like this before, and despite my intense emotions which had be on the verge of tears, I could feel my hearts race a bit faster than normal, and I swallowed. His eyes held mine, and his face flickered as I watched it. Thinking I'd hurt him, I quickly removed my hand and felt a bit embarrassed, even if he was my husband now. His eyes flew open wide as he blushed, and he sat up slightly, kissing me so suddenly that I didn't have time to breath. I could feel his fingers tangling in my hair as he pulled me closer, and I slipped my arms around him to hold him up close to me.

Keeping his mouth close to mine, the Doctor looked deeply into my eyes, and I could tell that he was nervous but also determined. "I love you," he breathed, "It was very cruel of those thugs, taking me away from you when we'd only just begun... Can you forgive me?"

I smiled, the first genuine smile I'd have in a while, "I love you too, I'm so glad you're back here with me..." I kissed him again, harder this time, and he clung to me. I smiled against his mouth, once more surprised and pleased at the level of thoughtful passion he put into each and every kiss we shared. I had a feeling the Doctor was the sort of person who would, kindly, return even the most unexpected kiss. I felt heady as we enjoyed our closeness, despite the awkwardness of the Doctor lying on a hospital bed.

After a moment, we both pulled apart as footsteps sounded in the hallway. I didn't move far away, but made the Doctor lie back again just as Amy and Rory peeked in the medical bay. I waved them in; I suppose that they suspected that the two of us Time Lords wanted a moment to ourselves, but the two humans looked so bursting with information they couldn't help but come back.

"There's a lot of... stuff... that the TARDIS picked up," Rory began, checking the Doctor's vital signs and looking relieved at the results.

"You get some rest, Doctor," Amy added, patting the Doctor and I on our respective shoulders, "We can all take a look later, but for now you need to sleep, yeah?" The Doctor looked resigned, I knew he didn't sleep very often, but I gave him a firm look and he relented with a small smile.

"You should be almost completely back to normal when you wake up," Rory went on, straightening the Doctor's blanket in a business-like manner, "After that, my nursing duties shall be turned over to your wife, she can take it from there." He offered me a small grin, and I couldn't help but chuckle quietly. Amy and Rory bid the Doctor and I goodnight, leaving us alone once more.

"TARDIS, please dim the lights," I instructed the general air, and the time machine complied. Apparently she'd decided to accept me as a functioning member of her crew, which pleased me. Plus, I was taking care of her favorite Time Lord.

The Doctor watched me sleepily as I rolled another hospital bed over next to his, grabbing an extra blanket for myself from the shelves nearby. I plopped down onto the bed, reaching out my hand to my husband and squeezing it.

"Go to sleep, love," I instructed, looking at him very seriously. His eyes were wide as I lay a hand against his bare chest, enjoying the freedom of touching his warm skin.

"Yes, dear," he murmured, smirking, and he closed his weary eyes and fell asleep almost at once. I stayed awake for a while longer, watching his composed features and feeling my hand on his chest rise and fall as he breathed. At last, though, sleep claimed me as well.


	5. Things Get a Bit Heated

**Hero and the Doctor start to... explore... each other for the first time...**

**Next chapter may include a lemon! Just FYI ;)**

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><p>When I woke, the Doctor was gone. For one heart-stopping second I clutched at the blankets where he was supposed to been lying, my hearts crashing together, but I suddenly heard his voice coming from the console room. I scrambled to my feet and charged from the sick bay, skidding to a halt in the entrance of the main control room. The Doctor was alone, apparently in the midst of a heated argument with the TARDIS herself as he wrestled with different levers while stubborn buttons and sparks flew from the console itself.<p>

I stopped in the doorway, hands on my hips. The Doctor had dressed himself in a new set of clothes, tweed and braces and bow tie and all, and he didn't notice me for a moment as I stared at him work.

"Come on, _come on_ girl, it's not that hard, just try to remember where the vortex sent you! Come on, don't be silly..." A puff of smoke erupted from a vent near his face, and he reeled back, coughing. It was then that he noticed me, a look of relief coming over his face. "I'm sorry I left you alone in there, Amy and Rory are still asleep and the TARDIS started making some pretty ominous sounds... I've had to quiet her down." He looked unsure of whether he should approach me or not; he probably assumed that I was pissed at him for leaving me to sleep alone.

I smirked, striding forward and patting the TARDIS console with a comforting hand. "There now, dear, behave for the Doctor, okay?" A deep humming came from somewhere, and then the sparks quit flying about like fireworks. I relaxed, then turned to the Doctor with an eyebrow raised.

He flailed his hands a bit, trying and failing to look composed, "Amy and Rory got a good start on figuring out where I was taken, but the TARDIS won't listen to them like she does to me, and you apparently..." He swallowed as I continued to stare at him. I tried to keep my face serious, but I eventually failed and laughed aloud. He looked surprised for a moment, then a happy smile crossed his lips.

"Are... are you okay, now?" I exclaimed, closing the gap between us and taking him by his shoulders. He seemed to be walking properly, but that wasn't always an indication with the Doctor; he had a bad habit of pretending everything was fine and then toppling over without warning.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, everything's healed over," he assured me, unthinkingly placing his hands on my waist as I patted his shoulders and upper chest in search of evidence to his good health. His touch stilled me, and I looked up into his eyes, holding my breath for a moment. He seemed surprised at where his own hands were resting, looking down between us with wide eyes. Then he looked back up at me, his eyes twinkling.

"I went away before we could spend any time together..." he murmured, stepping back to sit against the console and pulling me with him, "So far I haven't been a very good husband, have I?" He spoke lightly, but I could tell by the pain in his eyes that he genuinely believed that I had a right to be angry with him, that somehow he'd short-changed me.

"What?" I replied, shaking my head in disbelief at him, "Silly, you never even got the chance! It's not your fault, not at all..." I liked how he was tugging me against him by my hips, like it was the most natural thing in the universe. He smiled slightly, still looking somewhat remorseful, and I leaned in until I could feel his breath on my face, murmuring, "We may have started off a bit badly, but we can always start over, you know..."

"I suppose, now that I can stand up properly _and_ can kiss you properly, the way a husband should, that I may?"

I felt warmth spread in the pit of my stomach as his lips brushed ever-so-lightly against mine, his eyes still open and teasing. I managed to laugh, though it came out more like a gasp, and I reached up rather recklessly to his bow tie, undoing it with one swift movement and pulling it free from around his neck.

He frowned slightly, apparently thinking that I was somehow disrespecting the red ribbon by removing it so carelessly. "Hero! I rather liked that bow tie, you know..."

I winked at him, deliberately dropping the discarded ribbon to the ground next to my feet. "Well, I needed to remove it, you see..."

"Oh?" His lips briefly tickled mine again.

"Yup. Cuz I wanted to do this..." I swallowed nervously, but my fingers began to move of their own accord and start to undo the top few buttons of the Doctor's shirt. His lips parted in surprise as he stared down at my fingers, as if he suddenly realized what it was I wanted. He looked back up at me, and I saw the pupils of his eyes dilate slightly. By now I had several buttons undone, I could actually touch his skin if I wanted to, but I kept unbuttoning him despite the fact that he was still wearing his tweed jacket and suspenders.

"Alright then..." he muttered, and he took my face gently in his hands and kissed me so passionately my hands lost track of what they were doing with his shirt and I simply clutched at him. What felt like fire raced down my back as I felt his mouth open and claim mine. I arched into him a little, gasping against his mouth, and felt him fumble with his jacket and let it, too, slip to the ground to join his discarded bow tie. My knees twitched, and I remembered my task of unbuttoning his shirt at the last moment. I was nearly finished now, ready to slip it back off his strong shoulders along with his braces, when suddenly my love-hazed mind registered that his elegant hands had somehow slipped under my tank top behind me and were actually touching the bare skin of my back. Once more the fire poured through me, and I broke our kiss, touching my forehead to the Doctor's and letting him see what I was feeling.

"It's normal," he breathed, his chest rising and falling rapidly against mine, "We're Time Lords, the bio-energy within us is intended to come to the surface of our skin the first time two of us..." He stopped speaking, leaning back slightly and looking into my eyes, as if asking an unspoken question. I answered him by kissing his flushed mouth and leaning my body into his. The tingling burn in my skin was still there, simmering under the surface, and I was gradually getting used to it. I felt like every sense was even more hyper-aware than normal; I could actually hear my own heartbeats throbbing in my ears, feel the perfect smoothness of the Doctor's skin where I was now pulling back his shirt. Lights played back and forth behind my closed eyelids like fireworks.

The Doctor continued to kiss me back, his hands trembling slightly as he helped me rid him of his shirt before returning to trying to touch the skin of my waist where he'd pushed up my own shirt. I tingled where his fingers brushed against me, but then stepped back from him slightly, leaving him panting and looking slightly defeated. I moved quickly, not wanted him to think that I actually _wanted _to leave his embrace, but I had something I needed to do. The heat in my skin was rapidly becoming a bit much, so without really contemplating the consequences of my actions, I bent slightly and began to undo the fastenings of my jeans. The Doctor's eyes flew open as he watched me remove the silly things, kicking them aside in relief as the skin of my legs cooled slightly. Now I felt a bit of embarrassment, standing in front of him in only my tank top and knickers. I blushed, but forced myself to keep looking at the Doctor and to slowly move back towards him.

He looked at me solemnly, his ancient eyes full of emotion. As he took me back in his arms again, he slowly looked me up and down with nothing short of pure reverence in his eyes. I felt my insecurity receding slowly but surely as he bent towards me and began to gently kiss along the bare curve of my neck, his hands around me gentle and almost worshipful.

"_I love you,_" he murmured against my collarbone, and I sighed happily into his hair.

"I love you, Doctor," I replied, lacing my hands through his gorgeous mop and letting myself relax against him as he continued to explore my throat with his lips.

There was a crash behind us, and the Doctor quickly spun me around behind him at a truly remarkable speed, grabbing his sonic screwdriver from somewhere, I didn't have a cluewhere, and pointing it threateningly at...

...a shell-shocked Rory.

I squeaked, hiding behind the now half-cross, half-embarrassed Doctor.

"Oh my _god!_" Amy shouted from somewhere as Rory tried to look anywhere else but at the half-naked pair of us and our rather obvious little pile of discarded of clothes. "Rory, don't be an idiot, I _told_ you not to go in there, _get back here! Hurry!_"

"Right... Right," Rory muttered, stumbling around and retreating the way he'd come. Apparently he'd wanted to check on us, and hadn't been as wise about it as Amy.

"I'm sorry!" he called behind him, hurrying from the console room and out of sight.

"Yeah, um... carry on!" Amy shouted from wherever she was, and I kind of laughed, a gaspy, embarrassed little laugh.

There was silence for a moment, and then we could hear the Ponds retreating, Rory apparently freaking out and Amy telling him off.

The Doctor turned back to face me where I stood, half-crumpled against the console, my face beet red. He also was blushing, but simply rolled his eyes a little and chuckled nervously.

"Well, er..." he stammered, his eyes unable to keep from looking at my half-dressed form, "come along, my wife, let's..." He suddenly moved forward and scooped me up in his arms. I laughed, pretending to struggle for a moment and then relaxing against him. Without another word he jogged from the console room, leaving our clothes behind as we went off in search of someplace more private.


	6. Time Lord Love and the Shadow

**WARNING: This chapter contains a non-explicit lemon... You have been warned ;)**

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><p>The two of us stumbled rather ungracefully away from the control room, trying to get away from any more accidental interruptions. I laughed as Rory's shocked face swam before my eyes, and I felt myself blush as I contemplated what he'd seen, what I was about to do. The Doctor, still carrying me, changed directions suddenly and we found ourselves in a darkened room I'd never seen before. Apparently the TARDIS had arranged something special, or at least that's what she thought, because the floor was completely covered in pillows of all shapes and sizes. The only problem with this was the fact that, well, the Doctor is rather clumsy, so in no time at all we went crashing down as one of the unassuming pillows tripped him up. I got the air knocked out of me, so my laughter turned to a sort of jolly wheezing. I could hear the Doctor laughing helplessly somewhere above me.<p>

Looking up, I discovered my Doctor on top of me, his thick wavy hair sticking out in all directions as he continued to chuckle breathlessly. Suddenly, as our eyes met and we became of our position, we stopped laughing, staring seriously at each other. The weight of his body pressed softly into mine, and I instinctively pulled him even closer. He kissed me without even thinking about it, slowly and passionately, then pressed his forehead to mine. I realized what he was doing a second before it happened, and then my mind was flooded with images and sounds and sensations from his life, and from what he hoped our life would be like together. The sensation of love flooding through my mind was almost too much, and I clutched his shoulders for support. His voice sounded in my head, throbbing there and soothing all at the same time, speaking in a language I didn't understand but was oh so familiar; I guessed it was Gallifreyan. I could hear myself gasping for air as the images poured into my brain and I couldn't stop them, all I could do was hang on for dear life as he shared all his love for me.

I couldn't take it anymore, and I gasped out a soft "_Doctor_" which made him draw back from me slightly and kiss me very tenderly on the forehead. His eyes still burned with all the emotions he'd been trying to convey through thought, and I took hold of his face and kissed him. The kiss deepened as he moved on top of me, struggling with the large amount of pillows around us, trying to get closer to me. I felt hot all over and I could feel the bare skin of his chest burning against mine as a faint golden glow began to shine from his very pores. The heat inside me redoubled, and I shut my eyes tightly as I felt it seep out from me. I was probably glowing as well.

The Doctor was getting more and more passionate as he began to caress any part of me he could reach. I smiled with my eyes still closed, arching into his touch, loving how he was mapping out every part of my skin that was exposed with his hands. Making an executive decision that we were both still wearing way too many clothes, I tugged my own tank top off over my head, and he followed suit by removing his trousers, kicking them aside. I giggled in spite of myself when I noticed that he was wearing polka-dotted boxers. He gave me a surprised look.

"These are... _cool!_" He looked a bit affronted that I could possibly laugh at his choice of underwear. I smirked at him, brushing my fingertips along his belly and making him twitch. Instantly the hurt look on his face was replaced by a much happier one, and he rolled over on top of me once more, tugging at any remaining clothing I still had on.

After a few more heated moments, he started saying things to me, broken English phrases at first followed by snippets of more exotic languages I didn't know. His lips were doing wonderful things to my neck as he murmured "_Hero..._" once more. Hearing him say my name undid something inside me and I moaned, rolling us over until I was on top of him, feeling him, touching him everywhere like he had been touching me. My female instincts took over as I ground myself against the front of his boxers, feeling him buck against me in response. Taking hold of my wrists, the Doctor looked me in the eye and I saw an evil little glint there. Just when I felt I should be worried he whispered, "Oh no you don't, love," and flipped us back over.

There was a whirl of his arms and hands flailing around and suddenly we were both completely bare; it appeared that he had literally _torn_ my lacy panties and bra from my body while somehow removing his briefs at the same time. All coherent thoughts fled my mind as he once more claimed my lips and tongue.

After a moment, we broke apart, completely breathless, and he murmured, "_I love you,_" and I whispered back, "_I love you, too._" His weight was between my legs and he moved forward, nudging against me with a small sound that I'd never heard him make before. His face was flushed, his mop of hair flopped across his forehead, his body already trembling as he pressed against me again without entering, making that low whimpering sound once more. I groaned, arching towards him, murmuring his name, and after a few tense moments he was inside me. Now it was my turn to take hold of the side of his face and to press his forehead to mine as our bodies moved together. Taking my hint he again opened his mind to me and I found myself surrounded by his mind and thoughts and love. It was overwhelming. Opening my eyes for a brief moment I realized that he could feel my mind as well; his eyes were squeezed shut as he murmured my name over and over again. Another rush of emotion poured into my brain and I clung to him to stay alive, the pleasure in both of our bodies growing, moving faster now, sweat making it difficult to grip each other, and our pool of emotions in the middle contracted and exploded as we climaxed together.

A few moments later, or it may have been a few years, we lay among the messy pile of pillows and tossed-aside clothes. He looked at me, smiling, his chest still rising and falling rapidly. I was still rather breathless myself and feeling very relaxed. I snuggled against him, feeling his two hearts thud back and forth as I stroked his bare chest. His skin still burned against mine as I slowly slid my closest leg around his, but the glow in our skin had receded completely. I wondered if that would ever happen again, or if it really was a one-time thing. Tucking an arm around me to nestle me closer, the Doctor turned his head and buried his face in my hair, breathing me in.

"Mmmm..." was all I could manage, somehow trying to convey all the emotions I was feeling at the moment. He met my eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but seemed speechless. I smiled because it was an unusual sight to see the Doctor unable to think of anything to say. At last he decided that the best way to communicate at this moment was to kiss me, which he did. His mouth moved slowly against mine, soft and languid and hot all at once. I stroked the side of his face, enjoying how close we were.

"Well that was... lovely," I managed, nuzzling the side of his neck.

"Oh yes," he murmured, gently kissing a line across my shoulder.

"So... um... that my-mind-to-your-mind thing... and the glowing thing..." I raised an eyebrow at him, smiling playfully.

He looked slightly embarrassed, but smiled back shyly, "Oh, that... Should have warned you, when Time Lords bond for the first time... it's... intense."

I giggled and gently poked him in the side, making him squirm in ticklishness. "A little egotistical, aren't we?" I joked, pulling him onto his side to face me and placing my hands against his muscled chest.

Rather than answer, he kissed me fast and hard, wrapping me up tightly in his arms. I melted against him, rubbing my hips against his and then pulling back slightly when I realized that he was getting turned on again. More than a little surprised, I broke away from our kiss and looked up at him curiously. "Again?"

He blushed but stared back defiantly, his eyes sparkling, "You've underestimated me, I see..."

I stifled a laugh as he tugged me back against him, capturing my mouth with his.

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><p>It took less than a second for me to realize that something was wrong. One moment I was curled up with my Doctor, dozing, and the next a very loud siren was blaring somewhere and the sound of indistinct shouting. The Doctor roused, sitting up and pushing his mop of hair from his eyes. I sat up too, sleepily, pulling my clothes towards me and getting dressed. The Doctor was up and dressed in a matter of seconds, his face grave as the siren continued to blare and we could hear more shouts coming from the console room. He made to go towards the closed door of our room, but paused a moment, turning back towards me and pulling me up into a tight hug. He tenderly kissed the top of my head, rubbing slow circles on my back.<p>

"_You are fantastic,_" he murmured into my hair, "_Now, whatever happens, just stay behind me, okay?_" I nodded, unsure of what he meant, but then he released his hold on me and left the room. I trotted after him, alarm growing in the pit of my stomach as I heard Amy cry out. I started to run, catching up with the Doctor, and we dashed into the console room to find the two humans running round and round the platform, checking various readings and exclaiming at the results. The siren continued to scream down at us.

"What's wrong?" I cried, hurrying to Amy's side and recognizing honest fear in her eyes.

"We've taken off again, haven't we," the Doctor said softly, going into genius mode as he twirled around the console, flicking switches here and there before pulling the screen down to take a look at what was causing the trouble. "We appear to have been pulled into another anomaly," he said, quite calmly, and I felt my mouth go dry as I remembered that when this happened last time, the Doctor had gotten hurt.

"The phone rang, and I went to answer it," Amy added, looking pale, "and the only thing on the other end was this sort of... weird screamin' sound. Really creepy..." Rory patted her on the shoulder.

This bit of news seemed to unsettle the Doctor a bit, but perhaps it was only I who could read his flicking emotions well enough to tell. Generally when people called the Doctor they spoke in words that could be understood, not just shrieking. Unless, of course, they were in terrible danger, or worse...

We all jumped as the phone started to ring once more, and the Doctor yanked it off it's stand and then carefully raised it to his ear. He squinted his eyes a bit, and even from where I was on the other side of the console I could hear a muffled scream coming from the receiver.

"Hello! Hello?" the Doctor shouted, still screwing his face up against the piercing sound, "Who is this? We can help you, what can we do? Who..." There was no recognizable reply, just more shrieks, which then cut off. With a sigh, the Doctor reluctantly replaced the receiver on the console, leaning to check the source of the call. His eyes widened for a moment as he looked, then he turned to Amy, Rory, and I, straightening his bow tie and tweed jacket with a small smile.

"It appears that someone on Earth needs help, and we can't deny them that, can we?" He winked at me, twirling around the console again, setting our course. "Provided we can actually _land_, of course, the Vortex is still shifting." He moved over to where I was standing, pulling the last lever and slipping his arm around my waist as Amy and Rory hung on to the railing to prepare for flight. "I like adventures," he whispered to me, smiling eagerly.

I grinned back.

And then a tall, dark shadow of a person materialized in front of the console.


	7. Old Friends Who Like to Flirt

**Hero is about to meet an old friend of the Doctor! Yay!**

**Please REVIEW! I'm getting a bit low on reviews... *sniff* Reviews make me happy! Reviews make me want to write and write and write! :D**

**Hope you enjoy... ;)**

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><p>We all took a quick step back. All of us, of course, except the Doctor; He never knew when to step away from anything. He whipped out his sonic screwdriver, quickly scanning to dark apparition in front of us. He frowned at the results, and I felt a tremor of apprehension tingle through me.<p>

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked loudly, "What do you want? Are you in trouble?"

The figure made no movement or sound, just stayed where it was, like a shadow that just so happened to be shaped like a person, cold and insubstantial.

"I can help you, I'm the Doctor, that's my job, helping people... Come on, now, what exactly is going on?"

We all jumped as the figure reached out a hand toward us, reaching, straining, like they were pinned to that one spot and unable to move any closer.

The Doctor spoke quietly but firmly, "Look, I know that... other shadows, like yourself, have been appearing all over earth, and people have been disappearing, don't think I haven't noticed! And then are rumors that someone's trying to... to _distract_ me. Are you one of them? What do you want?" His voice rose slightly, and the figure withdrew its outstretched hand, still silent and ominous. I felt weird looking at it, like I was seeing something I shouldn't, like I was being sneaky and untrustworthy just by setting my eyes on it.

"Doctor..." Amy asked slowly, keeping her eyes fixed on the dark figure, "What... what's going on? Who wants to distract you?"

"I don't know, I don't know, Amy, but I would really like to find out!" The Doctor glared at the figure, which suddenly shuddered and appeared to sort of slump to the ground. "Ah, what's happening now? Look, if it _is_ you that's causing all the temporal distortions, just know that it isn't going to work. I've been here for a _very_ long time, let me tell you, and I will get to the bottom of this... No one can make people disappear and not attract my attention, yes, but..." The Doctor moved closer to the shadowing figure, making me nervous for him, "It just a bit rude to send out some thugs to rough me up and keep me away from my wife, now isn't it?" He smiled, but there wasn't much happiness in it, just polite anger.

The figure moved on the ground, and I realized for the first time that it seemed like it was... in pain. I moved forward, concerned, and then gasped as it vanished before our eyes.

"Oh!" I had felt an overwhelming desire to reach out to it, to comfort it somehow, but now it was just _gone_...

The TARDIS suddenly shuddered around us, and the Doctor whipped around to the controls.

"Come on, land you crazy thing, come on!" His hands were a blur as he moved all around the console, trying to get the time machine to land. It sounded like it was trying, the breaks were groaning and rasping like usual, but nothing was happening as we continued to tremble and tremor from side to side.

Without thinking, I reached out and flipped the wibbly lever down, and the TARDIS instantly landed with a thud and was silent. After a long pause, the Doctor laughed in surprise. "Your ability to fly her must be growing, dear, I hadn't thought of using that lever..." I smiled back, though a bit nervously; I was still shaken by the dark, shadowy figure which had reached out to us, to the Doctor. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to clear my thoughts.

"We're back at the hotel!" Rory called from the doors.

"Ah, good, always a lovely day when the sexy ol' thing sets us down where we want to be..." The Doctor spoke jovially, but then I felt him gently touch my shoulder, my face, and I opened my eyes slowly to find him staring at me with concerned eyes.

"Are you all right?"

I nodded, swallowing. "Um, sorry, yeah... Just a bit shaken, I guess..." He wasn't fooled at all by my falsely-casual tone, and he frowned slightly, moving closer to me.

"Hero, you don't like well... Did the shadow really upset you so much?"

"It... it reached for us..."

But before I could explain myself further, we heard Amy call, "Oi! Doctor! Someone out here for ya... You might want to hurry."

The Doctor gave me a meaningful look, planting a swift kiss on my startled lips, then turned and moved quickly to the doors of the TARDIS. I stared after him for a moment before following.

Outside stood a tall, good-looking man in a trench coat. He was grinning broadly at the Doctor, who simply stared back, looking a bit shocked. I stopped dead in the doorway of the TARDIS, unsure of what to do, when suddenly the man gave a shout of laughter and embraced the Doctor.

"You scallywag!" he cried, rocking the speechless and shell-shocked Doctor back and forth, "Got a new face? New body? What else you got in here that's new?" The man stepped back from the embrace, holding the Doctor firmly by the shoulders, "You just keep getting younger, don't you? How's it working with the ladies?"

"_Jack!_" the Doctor spluttered, a smile starting to form across his face, "Jack Harkness! How... how did you know it was me?"

The other man winked roguishly. "Word around Torchwood was that you're in town, so to speak... So you've come to investigate the shadows, then? The disappearances?"

"Well, I'm... Yes, I am..." the Doctor flailed slightly, and Jack frowned.

"You seem a bit more... Oh, I don't know, you're still the Doctor, you're still your lovely alien self..." He hugged the Time Lord again, grinning broadly. "Oh it's good to see you again! Boy have we needed your help..."

"I'm... I'm glad to see you to," gasped the Doctor, apparently getting the air squeezed out of him.

"Good, good, well this will have to be strictly off-record... We can't run the risk of letting everyone know that Torchwood, the savior of the earth, is _stumped_, oh no..." Jack looked a bit sad at this, releasing the Doctor once more and turning to shake Amy and Rory's hands very enthusiastically. "Jack. Jack Harkness. And, you are?"

"A-Amy..."

"Rory Williams..."

Jack grinned, releasing the two surprised humans.

_Good, so I'm not the only person here who as absolutely nooo idea who this... man... is..._

"And _who_, may I ask, is this lovely lady?" Jack had turned his roguish gaze on me, extending his hand. I politely offered mine, and was a bit taken aback when he kissed it.

"_Jack._" The Doctor spoke quickly, and I got the feeling that this trench-coat-wearing character was used to getting reigned in, because he continued to hold my hand and smile at me as if he hadn't heard the Doctor at all.

"How did someone so... lovely... get to be friends with the Doctor? Oh you bad bad thing, Doc, you always go the the pretty girls..." He winked at me and Amy, who was still looking very confused. I laughed in spite of myself as the Doctor made a very indignant sound.

"Jack, just _don't,_" he muttered, blushing furiously, and Jack humored him.

"Sorry, man, didn't mean to embarrass you, but really you should work on that. This new body, well, don't you think it's a bit too 'bashful virgin schoolboy' to be tough?"

Amy and Rory snorted, trying not to laugh aloud and quickly failing. The Doctor looked quite peeved, though I swore I saw his lips twitch.

"We're here to discuss the very odd apparitions which have been taking over the planet, Jack, not my physical naivete. And this lady, whose hand you have so quickly snogged, is in fact my wife. Hero the Hero."

"Hero Smith," I murmured, grinning broadly at a now shocked Jack Harkness.


	8. A Growing Sense of Danger

**Hello! Sorry about the slight delay, I would have had this chappie up last night, but there was a slight problem with uploading new documents for about 15 hours... *sad face* However, it's all fixed, now! :D**

**Please Review! **

**Those of you who already have, *loves* and thank you for your support! :)**

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><p>"Look, Doc, normally I wouldn't go asking you for help, but things have been getting out of hand, you know?" Jack Harkness looked very seriously at the Doctor, who gazed back thoughtfully, "You're the only person I know who's as good with temporal problems, I'd hoped you'd... lend me a hand with this one..." The captain flashed a grin at the Time Lord, who smiled back politely.<p>

All five us were clustered around a single booth in a diner close to the hotel, eating pancakes and discussing the issue of the shadows and odd disappearances.

"Alright, Jack," the Doctor began, taking a sip of tea, "but you'll have to tell me everything, from the beginning. I only know what I've been told, which isn't very much I'm afraid..."

"Okay, here it goes..." Jack leaned back against the booth, getting comfortable. Amy and I exchanged a look which told me one thing; we were both a bit confused and excited to meet an old friend of the Doctor, one who was obviously at ease with all of the Doctor's quirks. I smiled privately to myself.

"Well," Jack began, "A few weeks ago, there were a couple of local newspaper reports that there had been sightings of these 'shadow' figures, things which appeared suddenly, stood there for a moment, then disappeared again. I guess the first few people who claimed to have seen these apparitions were, shall we say, a bit hard to believe, going on and acting a bit crazy, so they say." Jack chuckled, shaking his head, "Poor things, everyone thought they were completely nuts, but then a few days went by, and more and more people started having these experiences, too. And not just in the U.S., but in other places. Asia. Britain. South America. Slowly, it became a phenomenon which was happening everywhere. And then, well, things got even weirder. You see, when Torchwood got wind of this, we went into alert since we didn't want another army of Cybermen to come through a rift in space-time. You know... Like last time?" Jack looked significantly at the Doctor, who frowned.

"Yes, that was a spot of bother, wasn't it..." the Doctor mused, and I could sense that he was apprehensive.

"Uh, _yeah..._" Jack laughed, taking a swig of his coffee. "Anyway, then things got _really_ crazy, the first people who'd seen these shadows, well, they disappeared. Without a trace, no signs of a struggle, just gone. And then more people started to disappear. Not everyone who'd seen a shadow, mind, just some here and there. Like, if there had been a group of people who'd seen a shadow appear, only one or two would vanish. Once the count of the missing began to grow, and our attempts to find a rift or break in the space-time continuum failed, we knew we'd need some... special help." Jack nodded to the Doctor, who looked mildly pleased.

"Yes, well," the Doctor mused, "Apparently there is a rather _angry_ group of humans, not sure where they come in, exactly, but when the TARDIS happened to deposit me in their midst, well, they seemed to think that I'm behind these... shadows. They demanded to know where all the people were disappearing to, and of course I didn't know anything about it..."

"They... weren't gentle..." I murmured, and Jack looked at me quickly.

"Are you saying, they roughed you up, Doc?"

"Well, yes, but I'm fine, and just as puzzled as before. My theory is that someone, or something, is doing this as a sort of stunt to... distract me."

Jack smiled, then realized that the Doctor wasn't joking. "Wait, wait... You're serious? Someone, with the capability of messing with space and time, is putting shadows on the earth and then stealing people away... to distract you? From _what_? What could be more distracting than this?" Then Jack's mouth opening slightly as a though occurred to him. I glanced up at the Doctor, who was looking down at his cup of tea, a faint tinge of pink on his cheekbones. He was blushing.

"Oh. _Oh!_" Jack suddenly pointed to me, then back to the Doctor. "You think that someone's not happy that you've... gotten married! They... they want _Hero_?"

"Oh, it much more than that," the Doctor murmured, looking sadly at me, "Someone's found out not only who she is to me, but perhaps even what she is."

"Which_ is?_"

The Doctor looked at Jack very seriously, who stared back with widening eyes. I smirked in spite of myself, sitting up a bit straighter as the dashing man scratched the side of his face much like I'd seen the Doctor do when he felt uncomfortable.

"Ah... I see. Well," Jack cleared his throat, then got out a hundred dollar bill and placed it on the table. "We've got no time to lose then, eh?" He got up quickly, the rest of us following. Amy, Rory, and I all felt (and looked) very confused at this sudden change of business, as we followed Jack out of the diner towards the parking lot. I felt the Doctor's arm slip around my waist protectively, something he'd never done in public, and I stared at him.

The Doctor stopped walking, turning to face me and gently brushing his fingers against my face. He leaned in close, touching his forehead to mine. I blushed and smiled when I remembered the last time we'd been in this position, not so long ago. He seemed to think of this too, since he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. His lovely eyes were so serious, so anxious, and I felt a pang of nervousness as I looked at him.

"You're in danger, my love," he murmured, stroking my hair, "I can't let anything happen to you." I nodded, unsure of what to say. "You're a Time Lady, Hero, and very powerful, more powerful than you know yet, but you're still quite young... You can get hurt, and I wouldn't be able to bear that if it happened."

I realized what he was not wanting to say, what his ancient eyes were trying to tell me.

"You're... You're going to leave me somewhere safe, aren't you? To protect me?" My stomach clenched.

The Doctor sighed, kissing my forehead, sending shivers down my spine. "I'm very sorry, but you can't stay with me right now, I'm going to send you and the Ponds with Jack while I try and sort this out..."

"You need me!" I whispered fiercely, "We're married, the Time Lords need to stick together! You won't stand a chance..." He suddenly pressed his lips gently to mine, and for one blissful second I couldn't think of a single thing except the feel of this mouth on mine.

"_I love you,_" he whispered against my lips, tightening his hold on me. There was a shout in the distance, and we broke apart. Jack and the Ponds were waving at us from across the parking lot.

"I love you too, Doctor, but... what will you do?"

"I'm not sure, but I won't be gone long, I promise. Not like last time, and... You _must_ stay safe, alright? Hero, if anything happened to you, I don't know what would be left for me in this universe, I can't..." The Doctor took my hands, slowly leading over to the others, his eyes so sad I felt tears burn my own.

"These shadows..." I murmured, remembering the weird feeling I'd gotten when I'd seen the one on the TARDIS, "What are they?"

"Didn't you recognize the one we saw?" the Doctor asked, looking surprised. I shook my head in confusion. We were very near to the others now, who I saw were standing next to a large, black van.

"You couldn't tell?" the Doctor asked, looking concerned, "But... you seemed like you did... I thought..."

"Who... who was it?"

The Doctor sighed, his face looking sad and weary as he regarded me. "Hero, it was you, couldn't you feel it?"


	9. Into Hiding

**This chapter's a bit... angsty... But then again, Hero has a lot to be unhappy about. :( Hopefully things will look up soon!**

**Comment? ;)**

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><p>"<em>We seem to be having trouble staying in the same place for longer than a day, don't we?"<em>

_I smiled sadly up at the Doctor, letting him hold me for a moment before I stepped into Jack's black van with Amy and Rory. The Doctor gazed down at me wistfully, regret in his eyes._

"_You must not like me very much," he murmured, brushing back a strand of my hair, "and I don't blame you."_

_I looked at him fiercely. "No! I won't ever dislike you, not ever... I promised that I'd always love you, no matter what, and that's a promise I intend to keep, got it?"_

_He looked a bit startled at my outburst, then one of those lovely smiles stole across his face and for a moment his eyes didn't look so sad anymore. He kissed me tenderly, his eyes promising more later, and I did my best to put on a brave face and smile. _

"_We'll see each other soon, I promise," he whispered, giving me a small squeeze, "I'd like to get this business sorted... Time can be re-written." I kissed his cheek then let him release me. I opened the car door, stepping up and in, keeping my gaze on the Doctor as he backed away._

"_Jack..." he called to the trench-coated man who was about to drive us away, "You understand what will happen to you..." Jack nodded, flashing the Time Lord a grin._

"_The usual? But of course..." _

_And then the car door shut, and we pulled away._

_The last view I had of the Doctor was him all alone, standing by the TARDIS. His hair was flopped across his face, his eyes very dark and very lonely._

* * *

><p>"Ya'll can bunk here," Jack called, opening a creaky door into a room with several empty bunkbeds. "Bathroom's down the hall to your left, kitchen's back the way we came, et cetera... Sorry it's not bigger, but on such short notice I had to take what I could get."<p>

"Why is it always bunkbeds..." Rory sighed quietly, and Amy gave a little giggle. I met their eyes, confused, but they just quickly shook their heads and looked embarrassed.

Our ride to the next large city had been almost completely quiet, save for sparse conversation between Rory and Jack, who were talking strategies. Apparently Jack was in nearly constant communication with his base back in Wales, Torchwood, and he needed to be someplace with a good internet connection, so we had to stay in the more populous areas of California. "And anyway," Rory had pointed out quite intelligently, "won't it be easier to know when another disappearance occurs? Because there'll be more people?" Jack had agreed, so we'd rented a small house in a suburb and set up camp.

During the car ride I'd sat in the back with Amy, but we hadn't spoke. A couple of times I'd felt her eyes on me, but she simply watched me protectively as I sat very still, gazing blindly out of the tinted window. I hadn't wanted to talk, and when she sensed that, I was grateful.

"Right, Jack," Rory interjected as we began to settle into our room, "Is there any more we should know other than what you told the Doctor? I mean, so that we're prepared..."

"Yeah, and what exactly is the Doctor gonna do?" Amy asked, tucking a strand of her red hair behind one ear.

"Well," Jack took his time in answering, like he didn't want to say too much but felt he owed it to us... Especially to me. "Torchwood is nervous that we're on the brink of some sort of alien invasion, and I think the Doc wants to clear that all up before he does anything else. Of course, if it's not that, I suppose he'll be trying to correct the distortions and discover where all the missing people have gone.

"And what will _we_ do?" I asked. This was the first I'd spoken in a few hours, and the others looked around at me in surprise. I couldn't keep my hands still; they trembled at my sides like leafs in the wind.

Jack offered me a kind smile, much different than his usual grin, and I felt myself relax a little. "The Doctor has ordered me to keep you safe, Hero, and I don't dare disobey him." I stifled a small smile. "However," Jack continued, "based on the random disappearances and locations involved, there doesn't seem to be any place that's particularly safe anymore. I would have suggested that you stay in the TARDIS, of course, but..." He trailed off, not meeting my eyes. The Doctor hadn't wanted me to go with him. "Probably too dangerous," Jack finished, like he'd read my thoughts.

"Get comfortable," he added, politely nodding to the three of us and retreating from the room.

Amy, Rory, and I stood very quietly for a moment.

"He's a bit... interestin', isn't he..." Amy murmured, opening up her bag in search of a blanket.

"Yeah..." Rory agreed, sitting on one of the nearby bunk beds. He had to bend his head slightly to fit underneath without hitting himself on the dense wood of the frame.

I stayed silent, taking a seat on the floor.

"Hey," Amy said softly, standing over me, "Hey, it's gonna work out, okay? He always comes back, even if it's not in the way you'd expected, he does. And... And he loves you, Hero, you know that..."

I realized that she was worried that I was having second thoughts, so I quickly looked up, putting a polite smile on my face as I replied, "Ah, I know, I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid and get himself in trouble, that's all. I'm fine, really..." Amy nodded, apparently satisfied for the time being, and she went back to digging through her bags.

But I wasn't fine.

Rory looked over at me, not saying anything, but I think he saw the plastered-on smile fall from my face and understood the real depth of worry and heartache that I was feeling. The Doctor and I hadn't even been married a week, and already things were transpiring to pull us apart. I didn't know what to think; I'd married the most wonderful man in the universe, but apparently there were those who wanted to stamp out any shred of happiness he had left to him. And it hurt.

Rory nodded quietly to me, his eyes grave, and I knew he understood; he'd had his own share of heartache, in his early years with Amy, and I prayed that I'd soon have the stability they had in each other.

Very soon.


	10. Inappropriate Conversations

**Oh Jack, why are you always so inappropriate... and so fun to write... ;)**

**Thank you all for your lovely feedback, it never fails to make me smile! *hugs***

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><p>Jack decided that the best method for keep track of the world-wide disappearances and to track their patterns, if any, was to set up a schedule among the four of us in which we had constant surveillance. He'd set up quite the info station in the living room, complete with scanners, several small radios, a television with four different screens, and a strange, purple device which he said was a special sort of antenna. He didn't elaborate too much, so I guessed that some of these devices were secret ones from Torchwood.<p>

He and I were scheduled to take the first watch that night while Amy and Rory slept, then Rory would join Jack for a few hours so that he could be shown the ropes, then Jack would finally get some rest while both Rory and Amy would keep watch. Finally, Amy and I planned to share the last session, at which time we would hopefully have enough data to discuss as a group. Jack's hunch was that there was a pattern to the locations and numbers of disappearances, but we'd have to actually gather information to prove whether or not he was correct.

It was very dark in the room, save for the few lit screens and blinking lights from the radios. I sat hunched on a short stool, using one screen to monitor seismic activity in the continental U.S. Nothing very exciting was going on, currently, so I'd slipped into a sort of dreamy stupor, letting my head rest on my drawn-up knees with my arms around myself.

My feelings about having the Doctor go off without me, _again_, were rather conflicted. On the one hand, I understood that he could probably get some things done more quickly if I wasn't in the way. Also, I got a warm feeling in my stomach when I realized that he was trying to protect me from danger, making sure that I stayed safe. However, I couldn't deny that a small, but growing, part of me was rather cross with my new Time Lord husband. _I'm not a child, I'm a Time Lady, and he said himself that I have powers that I haven't even begun to discover yet... How the hell am I supposed to learn and grow if I'm not given a chance!_ I frowned to myself, closing my eyes and picturing the Doctor in my mind. His boyish looks often served as a mask for his more ancient pain and immense pile of memories, but I knew that he needed me by his side now more than ever, but he was pushing me away. Of course, how much so, I couldn't be certain; he never let on that he was uncomfortable with the idea of us being married, quite the opposite. I reminded myself that he, too, was new at this sort of relationship, and that he had far less to go on than I did because he'd forgotten the lessons learned in his youth. Perhaps he was so used to being separated from those he loved so often, that it seemed almost normal to him. Yes, that was probably it.

Just as I resolved to tell him that I needed us to be together a lot more, the next time we saw each other, Jack moved slightly next to me. I realized at once that he'd been watching me politely, a look of concern on his face. Looking up hastily, I cleared my throat and brushed my hair back from my face.

"Oh! Um... Sorry, must have dosed off..."

"It's quite alright," Jack chuckled, adjusting a couple of knobs in front of him, "I'm sure you've got a lot on your mind, hm?"

I nodded wordlessly. _Understatement of the century..._

"Well, we can't have you feeling gloomy, that's not going to work at all! So, perhaps I can offer some distraction." He winked at me, though I felt that he was less flirting with me and more trying to put me at my ease than anything else. I smiled in spite of myself; the Doctor would probably do something bad to Jack if he caught wind that the human charmer had flirted with me against my will.

"Alright," I said, sitting up straight, "What do you propose as a distraction?"

"I find that asking the distraught personal questions often gets them in a better mood," Jack laughed, writing down a few notes on a piece of paper. "If I may?"

"Okay..."

"Well, I can't help but notice that you're from around here... American?"

I paused. "I was raised here, yes..."

"Aha, and... Work? Family? School? All of the above?" Jack sat back in his chair, regarding me expectantly.

"Hmm... School recently, I have an adoptive mother, my adoptive father died some years back, left me with a watch that had been with me in the orphanage as a baby. Most of my friends have lost touch, moved away, gotten married, that sort of thing. The usual."

Jack looked mildly surprised when I'd mentioned that I had been adopted, but he politely didn't ask about it. He was, however, interested in something else, "A watch, you say? And it was yours?"

I nodded, "Yeah, well... um..." I wasn't sure how to say this.

"Wait..." Jack looked at me very seriously, an idea growing in his eyes as he watched me. "The Doctor mentioned something a long time ago about a watch, about its... significance. Are you, sorry, are you a human?"

I smiled. "Not anymore."

His eyes widened. "Ah! So... that explains why the Doctor is so..."

"So... what?"

"Infatuated." Jack's eyes twinkled at me, and I blushed, grateful for the dim light. "He's completely smitten with you, Hero, you're a lucky girl. Woman, sorry..." I laughed, still feeling the heat on my face.

"And you can tell this, how?"

"Sorry, should have mentioned, I've known the Doctor for quite some time. Since his ninth body, in fact... We met up during World War II in Britain, and if I recall correctly I was in the midst of trying to swindle him somehow." I giggled, finding it not very difficult to imagine the flamboyant Jack as a heist master. "Oh, you can laugh, but the Doc really set me straight, made me want to go back to being a decent person and all that... Anyway, some crazy stuff happened, you would know about that, and the Doctor had to regenerate to protect himself. And around that time, I... something happened to me."

"Oh? What makes you special?" I smiled at the captain, watching him think for a moment.

"Well, to put it simply, I can't die." He said this very casually, but there was a lot of baggage in those words.

I blinked. "What?"

"Nothing can kill me, at least nothing I've encountered so far... or tried..." He raised his hand soothingly when he saw my look of horror. "No, no no don't worry... I went through a suicidal phase, which the Doctor hinted might happen, but I'm over that. _Long_ over it. I've learned to adapt to the situation, find its good parts, deal with the not-so-great parts..."

"Wow..." I stared at the human in front of me, realizing that he, much like the Doctor himself, was much older than met the eye, and full of old pain. For some reason, I instantly felt more at ease with the captain now that I had this information. _No one is exempt from suffering. No one is 'normal' either..._

"Mmm," Jack commented, flipping a switch on his observation screen and smiling softly. "So, Hero, you're married to the Doctor... What's that like, then?"

I smiled, blushing again, "Well, we haven't been married very long yet, and for that time we've only spent two days together, so... Not sure yet." He chuckled, making more notes on his paper. "I'm sure it'll be wonderful, of course, but I'm still getting used to the idea that my husband has a lot of demands on his time... And, well, perhaps I'll be in the same situation as he is pretty soon. Since I'm a Time Lady, and all that..."

"And you're married to him," Jack added, looking at me quite seriously, "Just that fact alone may make things a bit difficult, you know?"

I nodded sadly, "Yeah, I'm catching on to that. But... it's worth it, you know? I wouldn't exchange it for anything else, not at all."

Jack smiled broadly; this was apparently what he'd wanted to hear me say. He clapped me on the shoulder, still grinning. "That's the spirit! I'm happy for the two of you, and I hope that you have great happiness."

"Aw, thanks Jack, that's..."

So, I know you've only been married for a little while," Jack went on, his eyes sparkling mischievously, "but I gotta ask something because I've always been curious... What's he like in bed?" He winked at me roguishly, and I blushed so hard it felt like I had a sudden fever.

"Well... um..."

"Does he still wear that bow tie in the sack?" Jack asked suddenly, looking very curious and earnest and teasing all at once. "Wait! Does he make _you_ wear it? Ooh, that would be naughty..." He grinned expectantly at me, and I nearly died with laughter and embarrassment.

"_Please_ stop talking about the Doctor's sex life..." Rory groaned, shuffling into the room and plopping himself down beside us. Jack and I laughed harder when he proceeded to stuff his fingers in his ears and hum a toneless little song.


	11. Dreams and Realizations

"Three hundred and sixty-two, in the past twenty-four hours."

We stared at Rory, who had just read off the number of disappearances aloud in our group meeting. It was evening, the following day, and things had stayed pretty much the same.

Jack cleared his throat. "And... how many shadows sighted?"

Rory consulted the computer read-out again, scratching his head absently. "Um, well... looks like about the same."

"How many _exactly_?" jack prompted.

"Three hundred and sixty... sixty-one. Wait... one more just took place in a rural part of Spain, just got reported... so, three hundred and sixty-two, same number as the shadows."

"Ah!" Jack exclaimed, "So there's a correlation! I don't see how this all fits together, but it's a big start. So, the question still remains... what the hell is causing these disappearances?" He spun around in his chair, turning to face me where I sat on the couch next to Amy. "That's where your Doctor comes in handy. Finding the cause behind the problem. His specialty, in a way..." I smiled slightly, still a bit unnerved by how many people were vanishing without a trace. Sure, in the grand scale of things, the total of about two thousand total disappeared wasn't very large compared to the size of the total human population, but the amount was growing very rapidly and seemed to be gaining in speed with each passing hour.

"You know, this may sound crazy," Amy began, sitting up straighter, "but I get an odd feelin' that the shadows are connected directly to the people who later disappear. I mean, of course they are, but what if it's more than mere coincidence who disappears and who doesn't?" Rory and Jack nodded thoughtfully at her words.

A chill ran through me.

"I think you're right," I murmured, looking down at my feet, "like the shadows themselves are after-images of the people themselves, like a mirage of the real thing."

The others stared at me for a moment after my rather grim statement. "Hang on,"Jack urged, looking at me very seriously, "what exactly are you implying? Do you think that the shadows are just that? Shadows of the people who then later disappear?"

"But then that means..." Rory muttered, looking vaguely horrified, "that means that one of us, we were on the TARDIS when that shadow appeared. Is one of us... scheduled to vanish?"

"Well, now," Jack began, resting his chin on his hand, "I dunno, that's a very good theory, especially when we're dealing with temporal disturbances and such, but..."

"It was me," I interrupted, still looking anywhere but at their pale faces.

"What?" Amy murmured.

"I... The Doctor said that it was me. The Shadow in the TARDIS. He said he could sense it." I paused, not sure whether this had been a god idea, telling them, but I decided that nothing should be kept a secret in a situation like this. "That's why he sent me away to be with all of you, so that you could keep an eye on me, make sure I don't get faded around the edges." I tried to smile to lighten the mood, but it came out more like a grimace.

"You're goin' to... _disappear?_" Amy cried, bolting up and waving her arms wildly, "But, but we've gotta do somethin'! Kepp you in a box or... just keep you safe!"

Jack looked very worried, and he folded his arms in thought. "The Doctor may have already assumed that Hero's disappearance is inevitable. That it can't be prevented. Perhaps that's why he was in such a hurry to be off, so that he could solve this as quickly as possible, before it's too late."

I bit my lip, unable to meet their gazes.

* * *

><p><em>I float near the ceiling, like a balloon, but I feel so heavy, like my bones have turned to stone. Yet I float there, effortlessly.<em>

_The Doctor stands nearby, far below me, a strange golden glow hovering around him, and for a few terrible seconds I think that he's about to regenerate, that I'll lose this version of him forever, but then I relax as I realize I'm only seeing his energy, his essence. A chill overcomes me and I slowly rotate to face the object of my growing fear._

_A dark figure, cloaked in seething ruby energy, stands opposite the Doctor, regarding him coldly. Frantically I glance from person to person, and the Doctor begins to speak._

"_So, you use a temporal alignment distablizer. I'm impressed." He smiles genuinely at the dark figure, taking a slow step forward. "You do realize, however, that you're causing quite a bit of distress down on the planet below? And I cannot just stand by while you conduct such invasive experiments, I'm afraid..."_

"_ARE THE EARTHLINGS YOUR PETS?" the dark figure sneers, "YOUR CHILDREN? YOUR PLAYTHINGS?"_

"_Some of my dearest friends are human," the Doctor replies quietly, "My wife was raised on Earth, I have always cared for it as a planet, regardless of its shortcomings and flaws. You will release all of them. Now." He speaks calmly, but his eyes flash a warning._

"_I SEE NO REASON THAT I SHOULD HUMOR YOU, DOCTOR, SO IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME I HAVE WORK TO DO..."_

_The dark figure raises it's hand, pressing a large purple button on a handy console, and the Doctor is suddenly surrounded by several lethal-looking probes, who extend electrified prods and slowly begin to advance. I gasp silently from my position above the scene, struggling helplessly as I realize that there's nothing that I can do._

"_I see, interesting," the Doctor says, eying the advancing probes with slight apprehension. One gets behind him and touches its prod to his back. He jerks violently, dropping suddenly to the floor, his face twisted in apparent pain."That wasn't very kind!" he exclaims, grabbing at his back and grimacing, "I shall have to stop you, you know." He is once more speaking to the dark figure._

" _I KNOW. AND YOU SHALL FAIL. MY WORK IS FAR TO IMPORTANT."_

"_Right, well, we'll see about that."_

_My hearts glow as I hear the Doctor's bravery showing through, the smallest hint of pure confidence which is simply "him."_

_The probes shock the Time Lord again, and his groans weakly from his current position on the floor. _

"_Not fair... getting someone... when they're down..."_

"_YOU SHALL BE A FINE SPECIMIN, DOCTOR, CONSIDERING YOUR SPECIES AND AGE..."_

"_I'm not alone," the Doctor murmurs, raising his head from the ground to glare defiantly at the dark figure. Suddenly the Time Lord looks up, straight at me, and my hearts thud almost to a stop._

"_Hero. You'll be here very soon. And I'm sorry. But it's going to be alright, together we'll be strong."_

_I stare down at him, unable to speak._

"_Our love is stronger than anything," he continues, but is then silenced except for a few whimpers as he is once more electrocuted._

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><p>I sat bolt-upright in bed, hitting my head rather painfully against the bunk bed above me. I swore softly, clutching at my throbbing skull. Why did the Doctor always have to get into trouble? And why was I dreaming about it?<p>

Amy had been sleeping quite peacefully in the next bed over, but she opened her eyes slowly and peered at me as I continued to nurse my bruised head.

"Alright?"

"Yeah, just a dream... I sat up to fast," I chuckled, trying to put her at ease. She gazed at me silently for a few seconds, then nodded sleepily and closed her eyes again. I relaxed, letting my hands fall once more to my sides as I turned over what I'd just seen.

Apparently, the Doctor needed me. And I, him.

And the one way to get to where he was, well...

_I have to disappear. Vanish without a trace. Lovely._


	12. Transports and Sparky Prison Guards

**The Time Lord and Lady... Together at last! Things are about to get real, folks... :)**

**Review! Pwease?**

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><p>A single moment before I happened, I felt it coming.<p>

"So, the numbers keep increasing, people are freaking out, and we haven't heard anything from the Doctor..." Jack was munching morosely on a pancake Amy had made, flipping through the pages and pages of reports. Rory and Amy sat across from him, looking rather put out. Amy was sipping tea, Rory was buttering his toast and kept almost missing the bread in his preoccupation with the problem at hand.

"I'd say we just sit here and wait, of course, Doctor's orders, but I have to admit it's getting hard," Jack continued, taking a swig of orange juice. He sighed. "I mean, I like taking orders and all, but this is getting a bit old." He chuckled at his own joke, then his gaze finally drifted over to me.

I was frozen in my chair, hands clenched on the table in front of me as my entire body shuddered and went numb.

Jack noticed everything in an instant. With a loud clatter he leaped to his feet, moving quickly to my side and clasping my folded hands. "Hero? Hero! Talk to me, come on..."

I couldn't speak, couldn't breath, as the crawling sensation in every cell in my body magnified and spread until I felt like I was about to explode. _Oh God, Jack, I'm scared, I can't move, and I can't tell you that this is it... whatever is going to happen, will happen, and there's nothing I can do to stop it._

"Oh my god!" Amy exclaimed, catching on and leaning forward to clasp my shoulder. I could feel her nails digging into my skin but I couldn't flinch. Rory stood up abruptly, scattering bits of toast and butter everywhere.

"Hero, listen to me," Jack murmured, obviously trying to stay calm, "It's gonna be alright, you're not dying, the Doctor will find you and it'll all work out, I promise. Hero?"

I blinked, and my cells dissolved.

The last thing I heard was Amy's scream of horror before the squeezing blackness surrounded me.

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><p>I felt like every bone in my body was being crushed, like I was toothpaste being squeezed from a gigantic tube. There was no air, so I couldn't scream for help, and my hearts bulged and throbbed in my constricted chest. Briefly I realized that I was in some sort of transport, that this terrible death-grip couldn't last forever, but I quickly began to panic as my lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen.<p>

"_You're almost here. I'll catch you."_

The Doctor whispered into my thoughts, his soothing words filling my panicked mind and helping me to, at least mentally, relax against the unbearable pressure all around me.

_Catch... me?_

"_Yes."_

Without warning, there was a popping sensation that nearly crushed me completely and I was suddenly in the open, gasping for air like a dying fish, my entire body trembling uncontrollably as I gradually became aware of my surroundings. Everything was dark around me. I stumbled forward blindly with a strangled moan and found myself falling forward, only to crash against something, into someone. The person caught me in their arms, hold onto me tightly and securely, but my momentum from... wherever I'd come from... carried us both over completely and we crashed onto a cold, hard floor. Unfortunately, I landed on top of the person, whose breath got knocked out of them in one go. I didn't even have enough air to apologize, I just clung to the front of them with trembling hands and continued to force oxygen into my lungs.

The person beneath me squirmed, also gasping, and I was tipped over onto my back. They carefully arranging my arms at my sides and then moved to check the double pulse in my wrist and throat. I was completely helpless, unable to see anything and light-headed from my journey to this new place, so I let them do whatever they wanted to me. My sluggish brain told me that I should probably go into defensive mode, that I should strike out at the person who was tending me, but then I felt soft lips brush against my forehead and _his _voice murmuring softly to me, and I relaxed.

"Hero... Come on, open your eyes... Just keep breathing nice and slow, everything's going to be alright..." I obeyed his voice, though opening my eyes proved to be rather difficult since they felt like lead.

"What..." I croaked, peering out from under heavy lids, "W-what just happened?" I attempted to clear my throat, realizing that wherever I was seemed to be rather dimly lit and freezing cold.

"Some kind of cellular temporal transport, I should think," the Doctor replied, his hands still patting my shoulders and arms in what I could tell was a nervous manner. Clearly, I'd frightened him by being nearly killed in my journey.

"You... you just made that up, didn't you... silly..." I murmured, moving first my arms and then each of my legs to make sure that they were all still there. They were.

"Indeed, you always see right through me, my dear," he replied, sounding a bit more like his cheerful self now that I was out of danger. He lay down beside me, wrapping me up in his long arms and tugging me against him. He felt cold, like the air around us, so I snuggled closer to warm him up.

"So... I disappeared? From Earth?"

"Yeah, it was pretty rough, wasn't it? I'm sorry..." The Doctor nuzzled his face into my hair, cuddling me in the darkness. I felt much happier than I had in several days, just being held by him, despite the dim coldness around us and the frightening memories of my dream from the night before which told me that we were both now in some danger.

"I'm... I'm okay, don't worry," I said, smiling against his jacket and letting my hands slip inside to rest on his chest. His breath paused for a moment, then resumed a little more quickly than before. Despite the circumstances, I liked the fact that my simplest touch was enough to startle the Doctor, to make him pull me closer to his body like he was now doing.

"You're probably wondering where we are," the Time Lord murmured into my hair, "and I have to admit I'm not entirely sure either... But my closest guess is that we're on a space ship, hovering somewhere over Earth, in another dimension from where we're supposed to be. Of course, I really hope this isn't true, because that would mean that someone is playing with things that they shouldn't even know about. Then again, that indeed seems to be the case. In which case, _bother_." I almost laughed at his private monologue, which had both answered my question and now presented many more.

"I see..." I lay my head on his chest, listening to his hearts race back and forth. "I dreamed about you, you know..."

"Yes, I do. I sensed it..." the Doctor replied, "and when you were about to vanish on Earth, did you feel it?"

I nodded. "Like a millions ants crawling on my skin."

"Mmm. Lovely. Or rather... not. Your Time Lord telepathic abilities are getting much stronger, just so you know... When you were getting pulled into the ship your mind was practically screaming for me." His voice sounded rather smug, considering that he'd just realized that he was the one person I'd call for if I was in trouble. I poked his side gently, making him squirm, then placed a kiss against his collarbone, pressing through the thin fabric of his dress shirt.

"So what happens now?" I sat up slowly, pulling him with me. My head felt much less light, and my breathing had returned to normal.

"Well, we're waiting here, like the thousands of others on this ship, to be summoned by the captain. Not sure why, or how, or even what for, but we're waiting. But I'm glad you're here, with me..." He trailed off, and in the darkness I felt one of his hands gently cup my face, his fingers caressing my cheek.

"Oh? So you've decided to take your husband duties to heart, then," I teased, reaching out blindly and finding his waist and left knee in the process.

"I suppose I have," he replied humbly, like he was rather ashamed of himself, and I smiled in the darkness and felt my face grow warm as his other hand found my hip and stroked that, too.

"Well, if we're going to die," I went on lightly, despite my blush, "or get torn to pieces or transported into the sun, you might as well kiss your wife, then, shouldn't you?"

The Doctor laughed nervously. "Oh! Yes, yes, I should... indeed..." He seemed on the verge of rambling, but surprisingly didn't as I felt him lean closer. After a moment, I felt his soft, perfect lips brush tentatively against mine, almost like he was afraid I'd jerk away from him. I did, however, bring my hands up to feel his smooth, angular face, his amazing mop of hair, and I closed my eyes despite the dark and let the Doctor turn me to mush with only his mouth.

A little voice in the back of my mind decided loudly that it didn't want just his mouth, but rather the rest of him, but unfortunately I wasn't able to follow up on this heady plan because there was a loud clanging sound nearby and the Doctor broke off our kiss regretfully. He kept his arms around me, however, as we both turned in unison towards the sound. We shut our eyes hastily as a large door swung open and a truly blinding light streamed in. After a second, I cautiously peeked out from under my eyelids and found that I could bear the light with little difficulty.

One of the electrical probes hovered in the air in the doorway, humming menacingly, its detainment rod glowing bright blue and sparking every few seconds.

"Ah," the Doctor commented, carefully rising and pulling me to my feet as well, "These things, you don't want to make them angry."

"Hmm. Yeah," I replied, eying the sparking electricity from the probe with a wary eye. "We should probably go where it wants us to go... Best choice..."

The probe drifted slowly into the room, making a slow arc around behind us and stopping, like it was asking us to step out of the room. _Polite little freaky sparky shocky thing..._

"Okay," the Doctor murmured, guiding me by my elbow towards the door, "Okay, okay..."

I hoped very much that he had some sort of plan, because I didn't relish the idea of being electrocuted for fun by a jumpy little ball that hovered in mid-air.

"So where are we going?" I whispered as we stepped out into the hallway beyond our cell and started making our way down it.

"I believe it's time for your flashback," the Doctor replied, keeping a protective arm around my waist. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I heard the probe humming along behind us, sparking dangerously as it went.

"You mean, time for me to do the shadow thing?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Interesting..."


	13. The Scientist

**Jack Harkness isn't the only thing getting revived for this story...**

**More reviews = more chapters! ;)**

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><p>The probe was soon joined by another, and the pair of them herded the Doctor and I into two separate rooms, though I didn't panic too much because the wall between us had a glass window through which I could still see his pale face. He mouthed something to me that I didn't quite catch, then he suddenly vanished from the window as he fell to the floor.<p>

A gust of air puffed into my face, making me cough, and for a moment everything was black and cold. After what felt like only a second, my eyelids fluttered open and I gasped. Rather than being in a standing position like before, I was now strapped firmly to an alcove, lights and sensors all around me. Struggling, I found that there was no obvious way for me to escape, so I stared around at the odd machinery.

"_Identification – Proceed -_" A computer's odd, raspy voice blared somewhere nearby, and a red band of light slowly swept over me from head to toe. I felt nothing, but eyed the light with apprehension.

"_Identification – Humanoid – Life form -_"

The scanning light vanished, and there was a slight pause.

"_Humanoid – Requires – Further – Analysis -_" Ah. So I obviously wasn't human, at least the equipment had some kind of brain inside its tangle of wires. There was a movement in the peripheral of my vision and I jumped in surprise as a cold metal helmet was fitted over my head. It didn't quite go over my ears, so I could hear all the beeps and whirring sounds quite clearly. It seemed that the automatic system was going to scan my brain.

For a second, a warm sensation heated my scalp, and I felt a bit woozy. This ended quickly, however, and I relaxed as the helmet was removed.

"_Specimen – Is – Analyzed – As – Time Lord – Female -_"

"Good one, you know your way around aliens, don't you," I joked, raising my eyebrows, "So what happens next? Interviews? Cutting me up? Come on, I haven't got all day..."

"_Guidelines – For – Experiments – Presented – To – Specimen – For – Perusal -_" A small screen with writing on it lowered down in front of my face, and without really knowing why I began to read the text aloud to myself.

"Specimen 9-3-7-2 is found acceptable for temporal displacement trials. Specimen is now sole property of Dr. Galen and the Bad Wolf Corporation." I paused, confused as to why that name sounded familiar. Unable to puzzle it out, I went on, "Specimen shall be subjected to trials and then analyzed by chief medical officer." That was the end of the message, and the screen lifted away as I pronounced the final word.

"_Specimen – Is – Primed – For – Experiments -_"

"Hey, hold on," I began, but then the familiar puff of air blew against my face and I was once more plunged into unconsciousness.

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><p>"<em>IT ALWAYS GIVES ME PLEASURE TO CRAFT THE PERFECT EXPERIMENT,<em>" the tall dark figure crooned from nearby, his loud metallic voice sending shivers of dislike down my spine. This, I presumed, was Dr. Galen. "_WHAT A FOOL I WAS, USING WEAK HUMANS FOR TEMPORAL EXPERIMENTS, WHEN ALL I HAD TO DO WAS LOOK A BIT HARDER AND FIND THE UNIVERSE'S TEMPORAL MASTERPIECE, AND TO MAKE IT EVEN BETTER I NOW HAVE BOTH A MALE AND FEMALE SPECIMEN! HOW GRATIFYING..._"

I gritted my teeth, looking across the dark room for the Doctor. Coming around a second time wasn't quite as easy as the first; I still felt dizzy and shaky on my feet. The Doctor was restrained by thick cords which held him firmly to the wall across from me. I, on the other hand, was standing in the middle of the large, dark experiment room, my ankles tethered to heavy rings in the floor to keep me from running. Apparently this is how all of the disappearing humans had also been treated, taken and restrained and then subjected to some yet-unknown form of experimentation. I closed my eyes briefly and prayed they weren't all dead somewhere, too weak to withstand whatever temporal changes had been affected on them.

"So..." I opened my eyes again, glancing over at the darkened figure, "what are you planning to do?"

"Why don't you show yourself?" the Doctor called, struggling against his bindings, "No honest scientist hides himself from those he experiments on, don't you agree?" The fact that he was continuing to speak calmly made me realize intuitively that he had some sort of plan, though I couldn't possibly imagine what it could be since he was tied up and I was about to become a mad scientist's lab rat.

"_THEN I MUST NOT BE AN HONORABLE SCIENTIST,_" the figure replied, moving closer to what looked like a control panel. Lights flickered on around me, bathing me in some sort of spotlight. "_I WILL DO WHATEVER IS NEEDED TO PROVE MY THEORY, SO THAT MY MASTERS CAN PROPAGATE THE BEGINNINGS OF YOUR UNIVERSE._" I couldn't tell what the person was doing over be the console, but I certainly didn't approve of anyone exploiting the innocent for scientific purposes, much less to enable the expansion of their species. I was quickly distracted by a whirring sound that started somewhere above me.

"Hero!" the Doctor called, his face pale, "It's okay, I think he's just measuring the affects of a temporal teleportation system for inter-dimensional transport... It shouldn't harm you, your Time Lord physiology can withstand the temporal change."

"What do those words mean?" I yelled back in frustration, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as the whirring sound grew louder and I felt a distinct coldness settle over my skin.

"Sorry, he's... he already has the technology to move people between dimensions, but... he wants to be able to do it anywhere in time..."

I gave the Doctor two rather sarcastic thumbs-up. "Great! Okay..."

"_NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME FOR YOU TO STOP SPEAKING,_" the scientist hissed, and I gasped and stumbled forward as _something_ forced its way into my mind. It didn't feel anything like when the Doctor's mind reached out to me, no, this felt... deadly.I managed to remain standing, squeezing my eyes shut against the mental attack. It felt like my memories were being sifted through, almost like my mind was a book whose pages were being ruthlessly looked over and torn aside. An odd sound escaped my lips, a cross between a scream and a groan.

"Don't resist, Hero, don't try to fight it!" the Doctor cried, and I was dimply aware of his mind reaching out for me as well, though he couldn't get past whatever it was which was in danger of ripping every thought from my brain. I tried to obey him, relaxing the walls around my mind, but it didn't make this intense rifling of my memories any easier. I would just have to endure it. Thankfully, I could tell that whatever, _who_ever was looking, wasn't having a very difficult time. After a few more breathless moments, the sensation left me.

I bent over, clutching at my head as I gasped for air. "Okay," I managed, swallowing with difficulty, "Okay, that... that sucked..."

"_I HAVE THE PROPER COORDINATES..._"

"Oh, that's nice," I muttered, standing up straight and opening my eyes. The Doctor's rather disheveled appearance told me that while I'd been mentally attacked, he'd nearly killed himself struggling to get to me.

"_BEGINNING FIRST EXPERIMENT ON SPECIMEN NUMBER NINE THREE SEVEN TWO._"

"What you're trying to do, all these experiments with time and space," the Doctor shouted, "it's can't be done! Not ever! Believe me, I've tried! Going back in time, going to another dimension and another place in the temporal pattern of that world, it's impossible... All of your subjects, the ones _you're_ forcing into places where they cannot possibly survive, the data you gather from them will mean nothing!"

The dark figure made no response. Suddenly I felt every cell in my body start to tingle again, like when I'd first been pulled into this reality, but then the sensation changed and I burned with an icy fire. My hearts panicked and raced back and forth across my chest as I went rigid, unsure of what was about to happen.

"Nothing you do will work!" the Doctor yelled, his voice cracking slightly, "You need to stop these mad experiments, more people are just going to die!"

"_THE FEMALE OF GALLIFREY WILL NOT DIE._"

"That's because she's special, but there's only one of her and no one else will be able to withstand the temporal fluctuations! Just stop now!"

The scientist,

I shuddered hard as my mind was suddenly filled with flickering images. My body felt light, like it was only partially there, and the images in my mind began to become more consuming and more real than the faint shouts of the Doctor somewhere in front of me. I leaned into the images, feeling my body pulse and shift like I was drifting backwards through layers and layers of cool, rippling water. It wasn't painful, I realized, and I felt a bit grateful. The images flicking past reminded me of an old movie, sped up until the film started burning and jumping around the edges and everything begins to glow.

And then I was in the TARDIS.


	14. The Masters of the Scientist

**Here they come! :D**

**Disclaimer: goodness, don't I own Matt Smith yet? No? *sigh* **

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><p>I couldn't feel anything, not the floor beneath me nor air filling my lungs as I breathed, but I could see all around me, the stricken faces of Amy and Rory, the Doctor's look of mingled surprise and interest, and then – I gasped silently – my own face looking back at me. It felt odd to be able to see myself from the outside, almost like I was seeing something that I shouldn't. The Doctor continued to stare at me, his mouth moving in speech but there was no sound coming from his lips. His arm was around me, the <em>other<em> me, the one from the past, and I realized just how protectively he was holding me and for some reason this made me sad. Whatever was happening right now, it was out of his control as well as mine, and the real him – the one from the present – was the one who had to watch as I was pushed into this other world, this _older_ world.

I raised my hand towards the Doctor I could see, the one from the past who was obviously trying to speak to me even though I couldn't hear him. The hand I raised was ghostly, hardly there, and this shocked me even though I'd known this was coming. _I'm only half-here..._

Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that my body, half-way between one universe and the next, was in distress. I was only barely aware of frantic heartbeats, of a growing fever and the taste of blood in my mouth. Surely none of the humans who'd disappeared could have survived these experiments. The picture in front of me flickered slightly, and I found myself on the ground, looking up at the tall figure of the Doctor as he looked down at me with a look of recognition. I saw my past self move forward, hands reaching out, and I remembered what it had felt like to watch the shadowy figure collapse and writhe in apparent pain.

But there was no pain now, and I was just lying still, looking up at them.

This old Doctor, the one who would later tell me that he'd known all along that it was me, that it was _my_ shadow, bent towards me with wide, sad eyes. It was like he could see all of me, the two whole parts of me that were currently stretched between two very different dimensions. Then, almost imperceptibly, he nodded at me, like he was giving me permission for something. Half-concealed beneath his coat sleeve I saw the tiniest flash of the sonic.

The walls between the universes came crashing down, nearly obliterating me beneath them, and I was finally able to scream as every part of me reacted against the pressure of impossible time travel. Now I felt the pain, realizing that my organs were starting to shut down, that I had no other choice but to retreat back to my correct dimension. Whatever had been holding me back, the mad scientist or his machines or his mind, they crumbled away as I purposefully rippled away from the scene on the TARDIS. The last thing I saw before the darkness of that universe closed in front of me was the Doctor's triumphant, loving gaze. I had to get back to him, the current him.

And then I was crumpled on the cold floor of the experiment room, my body shuddering as it struggled back from what I realized had been the brink of death.

"_IMPOSSIBLE! RETURN TO WHERE I PUT YOU! IT WAS WORKING!_"

"You have been making mistake after mistake," the Doctor cried from nearby, "and this was your greatest one yet! _Never_ underestimate the power of a Gallifreyan female when she wants to get to her mate!"

I smiled into the cold floor, and then I was dimply aware of an electrical buzzing sound, quickly followed by a loud thud on the floor. I stayed very still as I felt my vital signs returning to normal. I could feel the mental probe trying to get into my mind again, but this time I held firm against it, not letting it get anything more from me.

"_MASTERS! HURRY, THE EXPERIMENT GOES ILL! I NEED ASSISTANCE..._"

Things crashed and groaned around me, and my nose tingled with the smell of smoke. I opened my eyes. The room around me was in chaos; the dark figure of the scientist was nowhere to be seen, and fires had broken out all around the room. Several of the detainment probes were shooting through the air, frenzied and electrocuting everything in their path. Looking out towards the walls of the room, I gasped as I saw the crumpled form of the Doctor; it looked like he'd just managed to get himself free when one of the probes had accidentally tazed him into unconsciousness. I stumbled forward, cursing as I found my feet still attached to the floor.

"Doctor!" I squinted over at the limp man on the floor, feeling my lungs begin to constrict from the smoke in the room. "Doctor, come on! Get up! Damn it..." I sighed in frustration and bent down to examine the ropes tying me to the rings in the floor. The ropes' material looked rather flimsy, but I still felt doubtful that I could break it. Casting my eyes around, I noticed that a bit of charred wall had broken off and was lying nearby, smoking.

"You'll do..." I lay out on the floor, scooting towards the piece of junk, hoping that it was still hot enough to burn through the ropes. I went as far as my bindings would allow, stretching out my left arm until it ached and I wiggled my fingers. I was still about three inches away. Concentrating, I tried to stretch out my spine and turn slightly to lengthen the reach of my legs, gritting my teeth with the effort. With on desperate wiggle I managed to catch hold of the object, which I pulled quickly towards myself despite the painful burn on my fingers.

Now that I had it, I was pleased to see that the inner layers still glowed with embers. Biting my lip as I felt my fingertips start to blister slightly, I placed this still-burning portion of the material against the rope attached to my left leg.

The rope weakened, smoking, and I tore free.

The second rope went even faster, and I ripped that leg free as well, immediately throwing the burning material aside and blowing on my burned fingers. They would need treatment later, but now I needed to get to the Doctor.

He was still lying crumpled against the wall when I got to him, throwing myself down on my knees beside him and carefully turning him over. I felt him breath. _Damn it, why are you always getting hurt..._ He trembled as I lay him on his back, his eyelashes fluttering against his pale cheeks.

"Come on, Doctor, you can't miss the show..."

Slowly he opened his eyes, smiling as soon as he saw me. His eyes were slightly unfocused, making him look like he was completely batty, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, I'm okay," he murmured happily, like nothing at all had just happened to him, "I'm the king of okay. Wait... forget I said that..." Before I could stop him, He sat up very quickly and tried to get to his feet, only to come crashing back down on top of me. "Oh... okay, that..." He winced, clenching his jaw in pain, and I quickly put my arms around him to offer support as I pulled him to his feet.

"You're _not_ okay, Doctor, and you really need to stop getting yourself hurt!" He met my gaze with wide, surprised eyes, like the thought had never occurred to him that this would be upsetting to me.

"W-what?"

"It's stressing me out!" I yelled over the roar of another explosion, and the both of us returned to the problem at hand; the experiment room was burning around us, and there was no obvious way out.

"**WE MEET AGAIN, DOCTOR.**"

We froze, staring around for the source of this new, gravelly-metallic voice.

"That's..." the Doctor whispered, his eyes widening in horror.

"**YOU ARE TRYING TO DESTROY OUR ATTEMPTS FOR SURVIVAL. YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!**"

"_Daleks..._" the Doctor gasped, and I could feel his hearts race faster against me. "They're the ones who commissioned these experiments... They want to go back to the earliest part of our universe, take it over! How can they be here?" He swayed weakly against me, looking overwhelmed.

"**YOUR MATE WILL ALSO BE EXTERMINATED...**" A strange, dome-headed robot rolled into the room, a blaster and what looked kind of like a sideways toilet plunger pointed at us. It was metal-plated and looked very well-armored and dangerous. "**BUT WE WILL KEEP HER FOR FURTHER EXPERIMENTS BEFORE WE END HER EXISTANCE. YOU WILL DIE NOW, DOCTOR!**"

"I don't think so!" yelled the Time Lord in my arms, and he pulled me away from the slowly-advancing creature, the Dalek, towards a dark doorway on the far side of the room. "I'm not letting you into our world ever again, so don't even start!" We ran, though rather clumsily as he still hung onto me for support. When we reached the doorway, there was a loud zipping sound and the wall exploded beside us.

"It's firing! Run!"

"**SUBMIT! SUBMIT!**"

"Never!" I cried, hauling the Doctor along as he panted for breath. "Where are we going?" I added to him, worried that he wouldn't be able to go much further without collapsing.

"The TARDIS... is this way..." he gasped, taking my hand and running alongside me, "They won't have been able... to get... inside... We can still get away... and... stop this madness..." He looked almost dead on his feet, and I pulled him along, hoping that I was helping him and not making things worse. Behind us, the Dalek continued to shoot and miss as we dodged down the winding corridor. I cold hear the creature roaring with anger and frustration.

"We can't let them succeed!" the Doctor cried, stumbling slightly, and I caught him. We went on. "They're the cruelest, most ruthless creatures in the universe, and they must be stopped!"

"Got it!" I replied, dodging a rather near Dalek blast. The Doctor suddenly groaned beside me and nearly fell. We didn't have time to pause, so I watched helplessly as he straightened himself up and forced his legs to move.

Up ahead, I saw a long row of rooms much like the ones where we'd been examined. In the nearest one, covered in sensors and wires, was...

"The TARDIS! Over there!" I pulled the Doctor towards the room, praying that he wouldn't pass out or something. The Dalek screamed behind us.

"**YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!**"

"Not today!" I called, flinging open the door of the room, frantically pulling the shaking Doctor in after me and rushing to the TARDIS doors. I brushed aside a few wires, hoping that it wasn't locked, then heard the Dalek shoot down the door of the room. The TARDIS door swung open suddenly, surprising me, and I gratefully flung the Doctor inside, casting myself in after him.

"**DOCTORRRRRRR!**" the Dalek shrieked, and then the TARDIS door swung shut behind us.

But now we still had to get away.


	15. Deciding What to Do

**Hero is learning to understand the Doctor better and better each day... :)**

**Reviews? Pretty please with sprinkles on top? :D**

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><p>Being back in the TARDIS, regardless of the crazy, trigger-happy alien outside, made me feel much more relaxed. The Doctor had stumbled to the console, breathing heavily as his system continued to recover from its earlier electric shock. I moved toward him quickly to make sure he didn't fall over.<p>

"Bad Wolf... Bad Wolf..." he muttered, typing in a few calculations and staring hard at the screen, "It doesn't make any _sense_... Why would the Daleks use the name of the entity which was their undoing?"

"This might be a good time to fill me in, love," I murmured, looking at the screen too and seeing a collection of rather confusing diagrams and codes.

The Doctor pulled himself upright against the console. He still looked rather pale, but more lucid than before. "Well, it's complicated... When I was in my ninth body, the one from the north, a friend of mine encountered this... entity... from the Time Vortex. Or maybe the entity was all her, I'm still not sure about it, but she became the "bad wolf" and started..." He paused for a moment before continuing, "The power that infused her gave her the ability to see everything, all of time and space, and the ability to manipulate matter in ways which are normally impossible. She disintegrated the Daleks, made Jack Harkness basically immortal..."

"Wait, _what?_" My eyes grew wide.

"Oh, um... Don't tell him I said that, he's awfully touchy about it... So, the Bad Wolf, well, _Rose_, she was going to die from this... experience... so, I took the Vortex energy into myself so that she wouldn't destroy the entire universe."

"And so... this "bad wolf" thing is... gone?"

"Supposed to be, but hearing its name again, and in another universe... It's weird, it's like these particular Daleks have heard the story of the Bad Wolf and have incorporated it somehow. But look at these readings!" He gestured wildly to the screen in front of us, but I just shook my head. He went on, "I see no sign of a Vortex entity, or any high levels of artron energy, nothing. The Daleks seem to be operating on their own. Which sounds great, it really does, but with Daleks even that isn't too wonderful..." He trailed off, looking thoughtfully at the screen.

There was a muffled crash at the door, making us both jump slightly.

"Ah, our friend," the Doctor chuckled, smiling wryly. He moved slowly around the console towards the TARDIS double doors, retrieving his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket. I followed him closely lest he should stumble; I didn't like how short of breath he still was. Half-way to the doors he paused, looking round at where I was hovering near his elbow and looked rather surprised. A small smile curved his lips and he winked. "I'm not so far gone as that, you know..."

"Well, Doctor, you have this really bad habit of suddenly keeling over, so I'm gonna stay right where I am." I grinned at him, slipping an arm under his tweed jacket and around his waist as the Dalek outside continued to hammer at the door.

The Doctor's eyes twinkled, and he gave me one of his sweet looks which made my smile falter and my knees quake together. Then he turned and moved towards the door.

The Dalek was apparently trying to literally run itself through the blue doors, which to me didn't seem very informed on the alien's part; considering that the TARDIS had this reputation for only admitting those she "liked," I didn't think this metal creature would have any luck getting in unless it bought the time machine flowers first.

The Doctor walked right up to the windows, peering out, and smiled rather smugly to himself. "Ah, there, you see?" he chuckled, taking a brief reading of the Dalek and examining his sonic, "obviously these aren't any Daleks I've met personally, or it wouldn't be trying to get in... Just heard of me, I suppose..." I noted his rather superior tone and poked him in the ribs. He pretended to try and get away, squirming in ticklishness. "All right, all right, I'm still concerned, you should know; that doctor, Galen, whose name was on the statement of intent, I want to know who he is... and why he's working for the Daleks in the first place."

I nodded. "So I'm guessing that Daleks trying to take over the universe isn't a new thing?"

The Doctor looked rather pained. "I'm afraid not; it seems like every time I turn my back they leap at the chance to conquer all existence. No, they're rather predictable at this point, it's their methods this time around which are... strange..." He trailed off, looking thoughtfully at the Dalek which had retreated a few feet from the door and was now sitting very still, like it was waiting for us to pop out.

"Look, perhaps the best thing at this point would be to simply destroy their facility so they can't run any more experiments... after we find out what's happened to the few thousand humans who have disappeared..." I didn't add my inner worry that all of the poor souls were dead, because I hoped very much that I was wrong.

"That's a good plan," the Doctor commented, and I noticed that his eyes were rather stormy and sad. I tightened my grip around his waist in a sort of half-hug, and he seemed to remember that I was there and looked down at me with rather surprised eyes. "You're worried that they're all gone, aren't you?" he asked rather unexpectedly, and I didn't answer him right away, just stared at him sadly before nodding. He looked away for a moment, hiding his emotions from me, then murmured, "I seem to always arrive too late, don't I."

"You couldn't have gotten here any sooner," I replied, touching the side of his face. He turned toward me solemnly. "And this Dr. Galen and the Daleks sure didn't make it easy for you. Come on, we're here now, so let's do what we do and see if we can find out the fate of those people." I paused, searching his face for any emotion other than sadness. "And," I went on, "let's hope Jack has some explanation if the poor things are dead, yes?" The Doctor nodded slowly, then placed a soft kiss on my forehead before twirling around to head back towards the console.

"Right!" he called, typing in coordinates and pulling a couple of levers, "Let's park somewhere else, shall we?" The TARDIS began to hum to life, dematerializing, and a second later we landed once more. Outside the doors was just darkness. "Basement," the Doctor explained, "might buy us some time while we search for those humans..."


	16. Even Time Ladies Need Sleep

**Sorry for the current slow development of the story! I'm in my last semester of university, so my brain is constantly being taken up with poetry, British horror literature, American Sign Language, multicultural history of America, and the philosophy of nature and spirituality... *whew* **

**But I will prevail and finish this installment of Hero and the Doctor's story! Because writing it makes me happy! Yay! :D**

**Thank you for your continued support and for the awesome reviews... I love you all... *hug***

**Review? :D :D :D**

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><p>Something that came in handy during the next period of time was my Time Lord ability to stay awake for large amounts of time. It turns out that the Dalek's security system was rather complex, even for the Doctor (and I in a small way) to decode, but after about ten hours of scanning the facility for human lifesigns, discovering and trying to break through complicated logarithmic firewalls, and then having the TARDIS inform us that she needed to reconfigure her scanning equipment to even begin to get a reading... and I was having difficulty keeping my tired legs steady as I leaned dejectedly against the console.<p>

"I can't... there has to be _someone_ out there who's alive..." My voice sounded creaky with exhaustion and under-use, considering the Doctor and I hadn't spoken aloud for the past three hours or so, and the last time my head had hit a pillow was the night before the breakfast before I'd been transported into this god-forsaken universe. I closed my eyes, leaning my head down against the smooth coolness of the console, willing my hearts to slow down so that I could doze for a moment. The desire to find survivors of the Dalek's temporal experiments burned behind my eyes, making my spine stiffen in an attempt to raise myself to check on the TARDIS' progress. I sighed slowly into the crook of my arm. Somewhere in the pit of my stomach I felt a tremor, like a spasm, and I surprised myself as my eyes teared up and a soft sob shook me.

Immediately I felt the Doctor's hands slipping around my waist, pulling me away from the cold console to hold me instead against his chest. My eyes were still closed, but just having him hold me unexpectedly made me feel just enough better to peek out from under my eyelashes at his face. He looked composed, but I could tell by the faint dark streaks beneath his eyes and the paleness of his complexion that he was just as exhausted as I felt. We stared at each other quietly for a moment, listening to the faint beeping sound behind us which signaled the TARDIS running a scanning subroutine. I could feel his hearts beat slowly against my own, starting to sync as we looked into each others' eyes with equal conflicting emotions.

"Do you think there's a chance?" The question slipped almost silently from my lips, and the Doctor's stormy eyes grew even sadder.

"There's always hope," he murmured, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear with trembling fingers, "If the TARDIS can't find the missing humans, than no one can, but... I have a good feeling about this."

"Really?" I couldn't hide the tired disbelief from my voice as I stared up at the young-faced Time Lord, hoping desperately that this new husband of mine was right; after all that had happened in the past several days, I really needed to have something go right.

"Rule fifty-three." The Doctor softly kissed my forehead, nuzzling his nose against my hair as he breathed slowly. "Don't..." His lips brushed against my left temple, "ever..." He placed a light kiss on my nose, making a reluctant smile steal across my face, "give..." He kissed my cheek, his arms tightening around me as I continued to smile sadly up at him, "... up." He finished his rule in a soft, sleepy whisper before his lips touched mine for one lovely moment. I closed my eyes to enjoy it, then swayed slightly as my body rebelled against how tired I was.

"Doctor..." I murmured into his mouth, wrapping my arms around him for support, "I-I'm about to fall over..." He retreated a couple of inches from my face, looking mildly concerned.

"I keep forgetting how young you are," he whispered apologetically, "I just keep going and going... You're dead on your feet, aren't you?" I nodded, feeling my eyes slide shut in spite of themselves. I just couldn't keep my eyelids up any longer.

"_I love you..._" I whispered weakly, clinging blindly to the Doctor for support, and he hummed softly and scooped me up in his arms like I weighed nothing at all. I rested my face in the crook of his neck, breathing in his vague, herbal scent. He started walking, down stairs by the feel of it, but without opening my eyes I couldn't recognize where we were going. After a moment, I managed to take a look and found that he'd carried me down underneath the console. Wires hung down nearly to the floor in some places, lit with a soft warm blue light, and the glass floor normally beneath our feet around the console was now above us as a bright ceiling.

"Where..." I murmured sleepily, and then I noticed a small bed tucked beneath the working parts of the console, not far away from the large pile of tools and the ragged work swing. Without a word, the Doctor carried me to the bed and gently lay me down on it, arranging the pillows around my head and tugging the soft blankets against my skin.

"Remember... when I got messed up and weird from that... flower tattoo?" I chuckled as the Doctor continued to make me comfortable. He tugged off my shoes and jacket, tossing them onto the floor before discarding his own. He carefully lay down beside me, tucking one arm beneath his head and using his other arm to pull me gently against himself. "I was _such_... a terrible... flirt..." I giggled, my eyes closing again in spite of themselves as I let my head flop against his warm, strong chest. The rough fabric of his bow tie brushed against my forehead.

The Doctor waited a moment before responding. "I thought you were behaving normally," he replied, stroking the back of my hair.

My eyes popped open in disbelief. "What? Are you kidding? I was calling you some truly weird terms of endearment, I suggested that you take me back to our hotel and have your way with me... I think at one point I started talking in a really bad English accent, and I couldn't stop saying the word 'sexy!' How the hell was that me acting normal?" I giggled sleepily at the rather astonished face of my husband.

"Well..." He swallowed, looking rather sheepish and nervous all at once, "Well, okay, I'd forgotten about some of that stuff, I admit. But once I figured out you weren't serious, I just made you sleep so that it would wear off and you'd... get better..." His face was flushed, his fingers trembling slightly against my back and in my hair as he regarded me. I realized that just thinking about my drugged-out, strange flirting was enough to make him nervous and blushing. It was cute.

I smirked at the boyish Time Lord, reaching up to run my fingers through his mounds of hair. "You're hot when you get all flustered, you know that?" I murmured, then sighed and leaned against him as a great, shuddering yawn nearly overwhelmed me.

"Rest, now," he whispered, kissing the side of my neck, just beneath my ear. I shivered happily and snuggled against him, tugging the blankets up around our shoulders.

"G'night..." I murmured.

"I'll listen for the end of the scans," he replied, finally resting his head down on the pillow above me and sighing softly. We lay there in silence for a moment, listening to the soft humming of the TARDIS and the sound of each others' breathing.

"_I love you too..._" he whispered breathlessly into my hair, and a silly smile crossed my face before I slipped completely into the warm darkness of sleep.


	17. Possibly 35

__**I know it's short, I'm sorry! :(**

**More to come sooooon! Oh, and as a teaser, I'm currently working on the next lemon, so stay tuned! hehehe...**

**Note: petrichor = the smell of rain on dry earth**

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><p><em>There was a smell of petrichor scent the air, and I breathe deeply as a few raindrops start to fall. I find myself sitting on a porch in front of a little blue house, in a forest, and it's warm and quiet. The rich earth around me releases scent and life and warmth as the rain starts to beat down on it, heavy and rich like the light itself is falling from the sky. I smile. It's so peaceful here. <em>

_Someone comes out of the house behind me, placing their hands on my shoulders, and I look up and smile at the Doctor as he looks out over the forest. He exhales slowly, his fingers softly rubbing my shoulders, then he looks down at me with serious eyes._

"_It's nearly time, isn't it?"_

"_Yes," I reply, though to what I don't know._

_Pain stabs suddenly through my belly, but I don't cry out. I look down._

_My stomach extends far beyond its usual boundaries. Something within me moves and flutters. _

_The TARDIS screams into my mind and_

I wake up.

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><p>When I jerked and opened my eyes, I instantly knew that the Doctor had left my side and was now frantically running about the console up above me. I sat up quickly, rubbing the side of my head as I tried to push the vivid dream from my mind and focus on the here and now. I stood, slipping into my shoes and hurrying up to the platform.<p>

"How many?" I gasped, reaching the Doctor and touching his hand. He turned toward me with stricken eyes.

"The TARDIS is still trying to get through the last few firewalls, but perhaps only a few dozen are left. We'll just have to get to them on our own, the readings seem to suggest that there's a chance that their cells aren't very far from here."

"Dear god..." I whispered, contemplating the idea that the Daleks had sacrificed over two thousand human lives to make the transport into our universe possible. But they still hadn't succeeded, they were still trying, and knowing that made me feel physically ill. I rested my face in my hands against the console, a long sigh leaving me as I tried not to let the hot tears burning my eyes win in the battle over my emotional control. The Doctor stayed quiet, pushing buttons and flicking switches as he continued to analyze the TARDIS' readouts.

I jumped as the Doctor suddenly cursed in Gallifreyan, clenching his fists on the console and closing his darkened eyes. "Why, _why,_" he groaned, "why must I always be denied the happy ending? Couldn't I just have had this one, couldn't this one day have ended well with nobody dying or suffering or getting trampled on as some other race tries to get at me..." He trailed off, covering his eyes with a shaking hand, and I didn't know what to say. Even if a few of the stolen people were still alive, getting them out would be tricky at best; our number of survivors could easily dwindle down to zero.

The TARDIS hummed at us, her two Time Lords, and I roused myself and took a look at the screen. It showed 32 definite life signs, 3 others possible. I sighed, but then straightened myself as I considered the task ahead. According to the scans, there was a long line of small holding cells three floors above us, the corridors deserted save for what looked like the occasional electrical drone. Otherwise, if we were able to make it up there, we could pull the power in that section and lead the prisoners back down to the TARDIS... _Wait, then that's three dozen people to get back down undetected... Shit._

"Ducts." The Doctor pointed one long finger at the display of our current location, and sure enough I noticed a small network of what was probably air ducts which connected each floor to the next. "Perhaps it's possible to move between the floors in this way," the Doctor continued, following the path upwards until it got to the corridor with the prisoners. "It'll most likely have minimal surveillance, no heat sensors to detect fluctuations in air temperature. This is how we're going to do it."

I nodded slowly, carefully examining the layout and hoping desperately that the Doctor's guess about minimal surveillance would end up being true. He spun around to the other side of the console, pressing a small bell there and smiling as something popped up out of the console itself.

"Time to go, I think," he stated, grabbing whatever it was and looking at me meaningfully, "but before we go, it's high time you got this..." He moved toward me, holding out... a small sonic screwdriver. The silver metal was detailed with pink, which made me smile, and I realized as I grasped the instrument that the TARDIS had made it just for me. I scanned the Doctor with a grin, casually flicking the sonic to read his vitals. I was surprised to see that the sonic didn't tell me just his heartbeats per minute, his temperature, but also his... I blushed, closing the device and carefully pocketing it.

"Let's go," I said, trying to keep my face straight.

"What did it say?" the Doctor asked curiously, and I shook my head at him, still blushing slightly as I moved past him.

"But new sonics are cool!" he protested, moving quickly to catch up with me on my way to the TARDIS doors, "they tell each person something new, something different, and the old girl always knows what color to make it..." I laughed, then stopped when I'd reached the double doors.

"Will this work?" I asked softly, knowing that the real answer was probably no.

"Yes," the Doctor replied, smiling his everything-is-fine face at me, and I sighed to myself.

"Alright... Let's do this, then." I leaned forward suddenly, planting a big, passionate kiss on his lips, then stepped back to where I'd been before and looked at him calmly. My surprise kiss had flustered him slightly, but he looked a bit encouraged and his cheeks flushed slightly as he looked at me.

"Alright, let's go," he agreed, and together we opened the TARDIS doors and cautiously slipped outside.


	18. Ducts and Pulleys and Surprises

**The Doctor and Hero are about to run into an old friend, and also it will be revealed what Hero saw on her sonic screwdriver when she scanned the Doctor! *giggle***

**I love your reviews! They're so sweet and awesome! Thank you :)**

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><p>Scrambling through grimy, dark air ducts, even with one's true love nearby, isn't very glamorous.<p>

Not at all.

I wasn't exactly crawling, more like a sort of painfully hunched shuffling which made the backs of my calves ache and my breath catch in my chest. I was a lot smaller than the Doctor, too, so I could only imagine what he was going through a few feet ahead of me, crawling on all fours and constantly bumping into the walls. He held out his sonic screwdriver every few seconds, scanning the area around us for life signs or the approach of an enemy. I had wanted to scan as well, but after dropping my new pink sonic three times, I had decided against this.

"_This way,_" the Doctor whispered, taking the left fork when the tunnel branched in two different directions. At least the air in this tunnel was relatively fresh, it could have been so much worse, and I was grateful. "We'll need to head upwards soon," I heard the Doctor mutter, "which means we'll have to climb one of the transition ducts, I believe..." I wasn't exactly sure how this was going to work, but I kept myself focused on the fact that we were going to save people's lives. They had been yanked from their homes, from their _universe_, had nearly died, and were now prisoners. Those humans needed us.

After several long, cramped minutes, the Doctor came to a rather abrupt halt and I nearly ran into him. I peeked around him, seeing that a large pipe opened in the ceiling, presumably heading up to the next floor of the facility. "Do you have a rope or something?" I murmured, scooting up right next to the Doctor, and he nodded.

"It's a sort of cool rock-climbing device," he explained quietly, "but it should work for our purposes..." He reached into his jacket pocket, bumping his elbow against the wall in the process because of his scrunched up position, and pulled out what looked like a sort of weapon. Taking careful aim, he fired whatever-it-was up into the shaft. Out shot a long string, with what must have been an anti-gravity lock at the end, and it attached itself somewhere up the shaft where I couldn't see. "Step on..." whispered the Doctor, setting the gun thing with the string attached on the floor of the tunnel and moving to the side more so that I could squeeze past. Cautiously I edged forward, tentatively stepping onto the object and holding onto the string. A moment later, I felt myself begin to rise, and I straightened as I moved up into the shaft. I wasn't really sure how this device was working, but I was pretty amazed.

Another tunnel was above me, identical to the one I'd just left except I rose out of the floor to get into it. Carefully I jumped from the climbing machine into the new tunnel, then I pressed a small release button on the platform/gun and watched it head back down to get the Doctor. I was left alone for a moment, so I took the opportunity to scan the area.

There weren't any life sign immediately near us, but we were definitely getting closer. No signs of the shocky probes either, so that was good. I heard the Doctor start to rise up the tunnel, and before he could get high enough to see me I scanned in his general direction, flicking the sonic open when I was finished to read the results. There it was again, his temperature, his heart rates, his blood pressure and metabolic rate, and – I blushed again, unable to really determine whether what I was reading was a good or bad number – his sperm count. _What the hell... so weird..._

Then the wild hair of the Doctor appeared below me, and I quickly tucked the sonic away in my pocket as if nothing had happened. He clambered up into the new tunnel with me, removing the anti-grav lock from the wall and re-coiling the string. The whole thing went back into his pocket and he grinned at me. I smiled back. Only the Doctor could be excited in a time like this, bless him. "On we go," he murmured, placing a quick, gentle kiss on my forehead, and then he carefully squeezed past me and started to lead the way again, hunched and scanning every few moments. I followed, checking behind us for pursuers, but saw and sensed none.

I knew that we only had two more floors and then we'd be in the same general area as the human prisoners. I wondered what sort of shape they'd be in, whether or not they had been injured or had taken ill. Either way, if they weren't in good health, getting them back down the air shafts to the TARDIS would be very difficult. I knew, of course, that if the need arose the Doctor would offer to rush back down to get the time machine and bring it to the people, though in that even our cover would be blown and any extra time that could have come from working in secret would be lost.

"_Here's the next one,_" the Doctor whispered, pointing to another duct opening in the ceiling, and we began the task of ascending to the next level again. This time it went a bit faster, now that we had practice.

It took nearly another fifteen minutes to make it up the correct floor, and once we were standing in front of the grate which would open up into the prison hall, we stopped, peeking through the thin slats nervously. The Doctor quickly scanned for enemies, looking pleased when there were none right nearby. Hopefully we'd be able to get in, locate the prisoners, release them, lead them to safety, get them into the TARDIS, rig and blow the station... _Damn, all of that makes it sound pretty freakin' impossible..._ The Doctor seemed to sense my growing despair, and he looked at me kindly with ancient eyes, letting me know that he was feeling the same way.

"_It will be alright,_" he breathed, gently touching the side of my face, and I couldn't help but smile a little. I nodded, showing him that I was okay, and we wordlessly turned towards the grate and began to slowly loosen the bolts holding it in. I prayed fervently that it wouldn't drop and clang to the ground when we detached it, and I hooked my fingers into the slats as well as I could in hopes of preventing this. Such a loud sound would surely draw unwelcome attention. Nothing happened, though; the Doctor and I were able to carefully and silently maneuver the grate aside so that we could step out of the duct and into the hallway. I held my breath throughout this entire exercise, though, and only released it when we were both standing in the deserted hall with the grate back in place behind it. We didn't secure it, only made it look like it was in the right place; we'd need it free when we came back, just in case we had to run.

Keeping his sonic out in front of him, the Doctor slowly edged ahead of me and began to walk down the hallway. According to the TARDIS' layout of the facility, the prisoners were being keep just around the corner from where we were standing. We made our way to the turn in the hallway, the the Doctor peeked around cautiously and then beckoned me to follow. The coast was clear.

Lined on each side of the hallway were white doors with small windows in each one. We made out way up to the first, and we peeked in slowly. This small room was empty.

The next one, however, was not. I felt the Doctor stiffen beside me was we looked at the older woman inside; she was seated on the floor with her back mostly to us, her eyes closed in apparent exhaustion. It seemed she had survived the experiments, but barely. I hoped that she'd be able to walk, poor thing.

The third room had a tall, skinny man in it, and he was pacing around without looking at the door. He could walk, thankfully, and had no obvious injuries, so I hoped that he was just agitated and would be helpful when we made the escape.

The content of the fourth room made me gasp and the Doctor take a step back.

Inside that room, Jack Harkness slept on the floor, dressed only in a ripped white t-shirt and ragged trousers. As we watched him in stunned horror, he slowly awoke, his tired face rising as his eyes widened in shock at the sight of the Doctor and I.


	19. A Rather Botched Escape

**Hello my dearies! These next few chapter may get a bit dark, but don't worry... Our heroes will prevail! :)**

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><p>I gaped at the figure of Jack behind the door, hastily shutting my mouth as the Doctor soniced the door and it swung slowly open.<p>

"Well, hello," Jack managed, still looking rather shocked. He seemed tired; dark lines beneath his eyes and his trembling legs made me worried for him. Now that I knew that nothing could kill him, I wondered how far the Daleks had pushed his body during their experiments when they'd discovered this fact.

"Jack…" the Doctor murmured, looking quite concerned, "Jack… what the bloody hell are you doing in here? Did you see…"

"Hero wasn't gone three hours when another shadow appeared in the bathroom with me," Jack replied grimly, taking a couple of steps closer to the Doctor and I and speaking fast, "Then about 30 minutes later I could feel the transport starting to work. I got Amy and Rory to stand nearby, observing, and then I ended up in some god-forsaken hole of a prison… You know the shadows are…"

"Yourselves, yes," the Doctor answered, speaking low and keeping an eye out for enemies, "Hero was subjected to their tests, and they very nearly succeeded."

"Yeah," Jack murmured, looking angry, "that evil-looking scientist guy thought he'd have a bit of fun with me, I _thought_ my shadow was there for a long time… So eventually I just played unconscious and they dumped me here. Probably excited to have me, the man who can't be killed…"

"Lovely," I murmured sadly, scanning him with my sonic to make sure that he was okay. The readings included his vital signs and, strangely, his hormone levels, but nothing to indicate that the experiments had harmed him permanently. Not that I was surprised, but it was good to be sure.

"So you're starting a jail break?" Jack whispered excitedly, then caught sight of my pink sonic screwdriver and suppressed a chuckle. I gave him a look, pocketing the device with a small grin.

"We have to get the remaining survivors out and into the TARDIS before we can destroy the facility," the Doctor replied, stepping back into the middle of the hallway and looking back and forth at all the doors, "Won't be easy, but it's got to be done. There's a lovely network of air ducts that can serve as our escape route."

"Excellent," Jack agreed, rubbing his hands together, "So, I'll take some and you two…" He stepped out of his cell into the hall, gesturing towards the doors on the far end of the hall. I nodded, immediately turning and walking towards the furthest cells. A weird prickly feeling down my spine made me wonder why there weren't any guards here; I half-expected a posse of fighter drones to appear out of the air, and I proceeded with caution. The last dozen cells or so held a mixture of men and women, of varying ages, and they all seemed to be in fairly stable health. Taking a breath, I focused hard and soniced the last door open. The occupant, a younger Asian man with a few cuts and bruised across his face and neck leaped to his feet, his eyes wide and frightened. I hastily raised my hands in a calming gesture, grateful that the TARDIS would translate whatever we said.

"It's okay, it's okay," I murmured soothingly, watching the man breath hard as his eyes darted from me to the door behind me and back to my face, "This is a rescue, I'm here to get you out of here. It's going to be alright, I know you're scared, but please just come with me and we can get the others out of here."

The man considered me for a moment, and I tried to smile at him but knew I looked rather sad. After a few seconds, he nodded shortly and lowered his hands, taking a tentative step towards me.

"Good, good," I said, stepping back so that he could walk out of the cell. He did so very cautiously, peering around the door frame as though he expected this to be a trap. There was nothing there, of course, except a few other newly-released prisoners down the hall, a serious looking Jack Harkness, and bow-tie-wearing Doctor.

"How… how will we escape?" the man whispered to me, looking somewhat relieved that others were being released. Perhaps he'd seen them earlier, during the experiments.

"There are air shafts leading down into the basement," I replied, scanning the next door to make sure I could open it safely, "I have a… escape pod down there, we can all fit into it and get away."

"These creatures…" he murmured, "they're… not of Earth, are they?" I shook my head sadly, and then opened the next door. The teenage girl inside gave a frightened squeak, and together the young man and I coaxed her out of her cell and into the hallway with the others. Now I could see that several people still locked in their cells had obviously heard some commotion, and they were pressing their faces up against the glass, their wide eyes begging for release. Soon everyone was out, and now we were faced with the difficult task of getting everyone away as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, the Doctor gave a soft cry, staring down at his sonic screwdriver as he read the results. "We're going to have company very soon," he murmured, gesturing everyone to hurry over to the grating and begin going into the vent system, "Jack, you lead the way downwards, Hero and I will bring up the rear. Everyone, stay together, don't talk, just keep moving and this will all be over soon." Jack nodded, opening the grate and bending down to enter the air duct. He was quickly followed by three women, the young Asian man and the teenage girl I'd freed, and a couple of others.

There were still over ten people to go in, and the Doctor and I exchanged a solemn look as we both took out our sonics and set the vibration on high. Suddenly, a loud humming sound at the far end of the hall made me jump, and I turned to behold three electro-probes, fully armed and spitting sparks.

"Hurry…" the Doctor breathed to the last seven people, keeping his eyes on the advancing drones as they hovered steadily nearer. I carefully raised my sonic, concentrating on disabling the dangerous things as quickly as possible. A high-pitched whine emanated from the device in my hand, making me screw up my eyes against the painful sound as one of the drones shuddered and was blasted back, spiraling into the far wall with a crash.

"Good, my love!" the Doctor cried, pushing the last prisoner into the shaft and sliding the grate shut behind them. He, too, raised his screwdriver, finishing off the fallen drone as its internal workings shorted out and went dark. The two other probes continued to advance, however, and my eyes widened as they raised their shields; I tried to sonic them, but nothing happened.

I swallowed hard. "They've adapted…"

The Doctor momentarily touched my back, watching the probes with apprehensive interest, "Indeed… This will be interesting."

Glancing quickly around, I noticed that one of the wooden door frames nearby seemed a bit loose. I leaped towards it, sonicing the nails holding it down so that they clattered to the floor. I felt several splinters stab into my hands as I yanked the long piece of wood free of the doorway, wincing at the sharp pain but grinning as I examined my new, electricity-proof weapon. Hopefully with this I'd be able to keep the floating robots at bay long enough so that the Doctor and I could escape.

The Doctor had followed my example, yanking another piece of wood from the doorframe next to him and brandishing the piece of molding out like a sword. As one of the probes drew near, He experimentally raised the board like a baseball bat and swung very hard at the machine, striking its sparking surface and sending it careening away from us. It took a moment to recover, and I felt heartened as I whacked the second probe away as well.

"This might work!" I called to the Doctor, readying myself to hit the probes again.

"Of course it will," he grinned back, his eyes dark and sparkling. I laughed rather incredulously as I realized that he was enjoying himself. My laugh turned into a strangled cry of pain, however, as something struck me from behind and my spinal cord spasmed, dropping me heavily to the floor. I heard the Doctor shout above me, heard him swing and hit something metal and I realized that another probe had snuck up behind us and shocked me. I tried to stand up, but my muscles wouldn't obey me and my vision had gone rather foggy. It occurred to me that if I'd still been human, I'd probably be dead right now.

I could hear the Doctor fighting the drones somewhere above me, and I once more attempted to clear my vision and get to him. I didn't think he had much of a chance against three drones, and my body screamed in protest as I stumbled to my feet, raising my wooden weapon once more and blinking hard to get a better picture of what was going on.

As my eyes began to clear, I gasped in shock as one of the probes extended a long, sharp instrument, with kind of like a thick needle at the end with fluid running into it. As the Doctor batted away another probe, this newly-armed one surged forward, stabbing the Time Lord in the belly and injecting him with the greenish fluid. The Doctor's legs immediately gave out and he fell to the ground, yelping in pain as he body began to twitch uncontrollably.

I screamed in rage, hitting the probe that had stabbed him so hard it spun into another one and they both exploded. The force of the blast knocked me to the floor, landing nearly on top of the Doctor and I hit my head very hard against the floor. Darkness immediately began to spiral around my vision, and my last waking action was to wrap my arms tightly around the convulsing Time Lord, hearing his gasps and whimpers of pain as I slowly sank into unconsciousness.


	20. The Most Powerful Thing

My head throbbed as I became aware of my surroundings, though in retrospect it could have been a whole lot worse. I frowned slightly as I inched open my eyes, surprised to find myself in relative dimness. A second later I realized that I was restrained, tied by my wrists and ankles to some firm surface beneath me, and I sighed heavily. We'd been caught.

Someone beside me moaned quietly, a soft, exhausted sound, and I slowly turned my head to the left to discover that the Doctor was tied down beside me. His long angular limbs seemed to be twitching spasmodically, and I murmured his name as I watched him shudder uncontrollably, heard him groaning softly through gritted teeth. He turned toward my voice, his breathing shallow and uneven, and I could tell he was trying to compose his face so that I wouldn't worry. There was a blood stain on his shirt, over his belly where the probe had stabbed him, and I felt my eyes prickle with unshed tears as he tried to smile at me.

"H-h-hello," he managed, swallowing hard and trying to look casual. His slender face was pale and there was a sheen of a cold sweat across his forehead.

"My god, Doctor..." I breathed, staring at his twitching body in horror, "what have they done to you..."

"N-nothing too terrible," he gasped, still trying to be upbeat, "I th-think the probes assumed I was a... a w-wild animal or something, but... the nerve poison wasn't meant for humanoid use..." He only got this far because just then his spine jerked hard and unexpectedly. He whimpered, looking away from me quickly so that I couldn't see his eyes fill with tears of pain. "I-I'm fine," he gasped, trying to get his breath back, "everything's okay..."

"Everything's _not_ okay!" I cried, my voice getting slightly higher, "You've gotten hurt again, with what I don't really know, we're prisoners of the Daleks and their evil mad scientist, and unless we destroy the facility really soon, they're going to keep taking prisoners from Earth! Nothing is fine!"

"Alright," the Doctor sighed, turning back to face me, "alright, things aren't looking very good, but on the bright side... We've been left alone in here, which means we have a chance to escape!" He smiled, wiggling in his bonds and furrowing his brow in concentration.

"Okay..." I conceded, also testing out the strength of the ropes holding me. My left wrist felt slightly loose, so I decided to capitalize on that and try to wriggle free.

"Ah ah ah! None of that!" chortled a creepy voice behind us, and I nearly jumped out of my skin as the scientist, Dr. Galen, sidled into view. Up close, his skin was nearly translucent, greasy and white. I flinched away from him instinctively, cursing under my breath as our good chance to get free had been taken away from us.

"What do you want?" I asked, trying to sound tough but failing utterly as my voice cracked, "Your experiments on us didn't work, you know that, what more do you want? And what the hell have you done to the Doctor?"

The oily little man chuckled softly, stepping closer and closer to me until I had to look up at his taut face. "So many _questions_..." he purred, "Here I was thinking I'd gotten the bumper pack, two Gallifreyans, a male," he nodded at the Doctor, who was looking only at me with wide, sad eyes, "and the female, the little companion... But you're more than a _companion_, aren't you?" the man breathed to me, reaching out and touching the side of my face with an icy-cold finger. I glared up at him, willing myself to stay still and not spit in his face. "I wondered _why_ my masters were so keen to capture both of you, to test you; they've never been very forthcoming, and I never asked questions... But now I see, it's very clear. They didn't just want a pair of Time Lords, oh no! They wanted a pair of _bonded_ Time Lords, _complete_ Time Lords."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I hissed, a cold fear coming over me as the scientist removed his fingers from my face and stepped back towards a large machine in the corner of the dim room.

"You're rather young, aren't you! Rather... _naive_..." the man-creature sniggered, shooting me a nasty look, "and also uninformed of your own rather unique physiology! Pity..." He moved over to the Doctor, now holding a large syringe and grinning rather wickedly.

"If you think you can manipulate us to your demands, think again," the Doctor murmured, staring up at our captor with such power in his eyes, I could sense it from here.

"I think it's time for you to _shut up_," the evil man hissed, then in one swift movement he inserted the long needle between the Doctor's ribs, right between his two hearts, and I struggled violently and shouted mindlessly at the scientist as the green fluid flowed into the Time Lord. The new injection began to work immediately; the affects of the older poison seemed to redouble, and the Doctor convulsed suddenly and terribly in complete silence, his eyes rolling back in his head. A sob escaped me as I prayed that he would be unconscious now, watching him continue to shudder helplessly against his bonds.

"And you, my dear..." The greasy man fixed his beady eyes on me, smiling triumphantly, "You're quite lovely to look at, even I in my advanced years can admit that. It's no wonder the Doctor chose you for his mate... He knew you'd be a good screw."

"_Fuck you..._" I breathed, my brain imagining all the ways I could end this disgusting creature's life, make him stop talking, make him stop hurting people. I bit my lip as my sensitive ears picked up the little thumping and scuffling sounds of the Doctor continuing to shudder uncontrollably next to me. A tear ran down my cheek when I heard him whimper helplessly in agony; my poor Doctor was still conscious, and the anger welling up within me at the little evil man who was now turning his back on me, fiddling with the large machine... it was enough for me to yank free one arm, yelling with the effort as heat blazed through my body like a tidal wave.

The scientist turned in surprise, nodding in a sick sort of approval as I strained my freed arm towards him, snarling and calling him every name in the book. "Very good," he nodded, infuriating me further, "It's good that you're strong, considering everything... Let's see, here I have a pair of bonded Time Lords, fully conditioned to each others' bioenergy, something that hasn't happened with your race for millennia, I might add... The ideal conditions for the perfect temporal being."

I physically reacted to what he was saying, jerking back my arm and feeling like I was about to be sick as I realized what he was talking about. The Doctor and I _had_ bonded, the glowing golden energy beneath our skin melding together along with our minds and bodies when we'd...

"The perfect match, the perfect connection, blah blah blah," the evil little man crooned, moving the machine closer to where I was restrained, "Perfect for me! Something that Time Lords aren't known for doing, not for a long time, is to create the perfect environment, the best possible location."

"_For what?_" I breathed, barely able to get out the words.

The scientist chuckled, pressing a few buttons on the machine's control panel and giving me a truly disgusting look, lewd and calculating all at once.

"For _what_?" I shouted, straining towards him again, feeling the ropes bite into my wrist and both ankles.

"Conception."

The Doctor jerked hard, thumping the table, and then moaned weakly; I put aside my utter shock for a moment to search his face in concern. The pull I felt toward him had never felt stronger as the scientist's words began to sink in. _Is... Is it possible? So soon?_

"I'm... _pregnant_?"

"Of course you are, you silly girl! It seems that the two of you got it right, unlike other Time Lords before you who didn't give in to physical demands... They believed that they were sterile, ridiculous fools. And the result of actually doing it the correct way? A perfect, pure Time Lord, pure time-traveler being, just what my masters need to complete their temporal dislocator and to move into the next universe."

I was shocked to feel tears on my face as I stared down at the floor in complete shock. My freed hand went to my flat stomach, trying to detect anything, any tiny flutter in my mind that could possibly confirm that what the scientist said was true. "_A baby? Our baby..._" I stiffened suddenly, lowering my hand and glaring at the little greasy man. "What are you going to do to it? It is very very small now, what will you do? Do you expect to keep me here until I deliver?"

"No," the man chuckled, angling a large screen towards me, "The only fool in this room is the Doctor, dearie... No, I shall extract the fetus, place it in the chamber, and accelerate its growth until it's large enough to serve my purposes."

"God! No!" I cried, covering my belly again, feeling real panic for the first time. "It's... You have no right to do that, it's just beginning and it's mine! Mine and the Doctor's! Don't you dare, you slimy little bastard..."

"Like you can stop me, little girl," he sniggered, aiming the machine at my belly and pressing buttons. The device hummed to life, menacingly, and I experienced the most reckless moment of my life as I gave in to the heat burning beneath my skin and let it rise to the surface.

The ropes holding me evaporated into dust.

The scientist stared with wide, bulging eyes as I rose to my feet, bright golden light emanating from my skin like fire.

"Nothing," I murmured, feeling so calm and strong and sure of what I was doing, "Comes. Between. Me. And the Doctor. Or. Our child. Nothing."

The man cowed away from the energy rising from my body, shaking slightly, "How can you be regenerating?" he gasped, eying me suspiciously, "You have no mortal wound, nor do you have the power to change yourself..."

"I'm not even sure myself," I replied, feeling the energy burn and build in the pit of my stomach, "And what does it matter? I don't think I'd dying, either..." 

And the power exploded from me, burning the machine and the room and the pitiful, evil man before me.

As the power coursed through my veins, poured from my fingertips and my hair and my eyes, I laughed as a great joy surged through me. I was aware of the child within me for the first time, it was so small and beautiful and it was real. After ages, I will never be sure how long, I collapsed onto the floor, feeling the last of the energy leave my body. I closed my eyes for a moment, collecting myself, grateful now that I wasn't vibrating with bioenergy that I hadn't transformed. Whatever it was, it had only served to protect me and my child.

The Doctor cried out for me, his voice broken and weak, and I turned at once and found him crumpled on the ground beside me, looking at me with ancient, darkened eyes as his limbs trembled against the floor. Looking into his eyes, I was suddenly struck down with guilt; I'd killed someone, I'd burned them away with energy from my body, and I couldn't possibly bear to live with that, regardless of how evil they'd been.

"_He's not... dead..._" the Doctor gasped, biting his lip as he slipped a little bit more to the floor, "_Just moved... to another dimension, I should think..._" Taking a deep breath, I moved over to my husband's side, slipping my arms around him and taking one of his hands in mine. I could feel small tremors passing through him as he rode out the poison in his system, and his jaw was clenched tight when he wasn't speaking. Slowly I placed the palm of his hand against my belly, looking deep into his eyes as we suddenly understood each other.

"_It's going to be so beautiful..._" breathed the Doctor, his tired eyes full of wonder, and I smiled in spite of myself.

"_**EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE THE FEMALE!"**_ croaked a loud voice just outside the room, and I glanced quickly at the Doctor, assessing his physical condition.

"Time to move," I stated, mustering all of my strength and hauling the Time Lord painfully to his feet, taking his weight against my shoulders even though he was a lot taller than me. The change in position made him breath hard, and I could feel his hearts racing as I leaned into him. "It's gonna be okay," I whispered as the Doctor gasped for breath, momentarily closing his eyes in pain. After a moment, he opened them, looking down at me.

"I trust you," he murmured, swaying slightly where he stood, and I smiled and pulled us across the room to a large grate near the floor. Air system. I kicked it loose, sonicing it open completely, and we ducked inside just before the Dalek entered the chamber.

It was time to find the TARDIS.


	21. Taking It All In

**Ooh goodness that last chapter was crazy! :D**

**This one is a bit tamer, it's the sweet little filler before the big showdown! Hooray! I had intended to upload it last night, but all day I've had trouble logging in, so... here it is! Finally!**

**Hope you enjoy ;)**

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><p>I tugged the Doctor tightly to my side as we narrowly avoided the Dalek's weapon blast. This tunnel seemed a bit larger than the others, and I hoped desperately that it would eventually take us downwards to the TARDIS... Or at least somewhere close to it. Together the Doctor and I ran, hunched over to avoid hitting our heads on the low ceiling. Behind us the enraged Dalek faded into the echoing distance, and I tried to move faster as the reality of being found and caught became more and more possible. Beside me the Doctor stumbled, panting much harder than he normally did when we ran, and I tightened my arm around his waist and prayed he wouldn't collapse. One glance at his pale, exhausted face told me that he wouldn't be able to keep this pace up for much longer.<p>

The path we were on turned and twisted every twenty feet or so, and even after about ten minutes we hadn't come across a down-pipe, or even another grate. I began to feel more worried now, my hearts racing in my chest as I held the Doctor with one arm and scanned continuously with my sonic in the other hand. So far there was no sign of Daleks, but I still continued to run as quickly as I could under the circumstances. Now that they knew our method of moving about the facility, the chances of them finding the TARDIS and realizing that their prisoners had escaped increased with every minute.

Suddenly the Doctor's legs gave out beneath him, and he collapsed hard, crying out as he struck the smooth floor of the tunnel. I stopped at once, unsure of whether I should help him get up again or let him rest for a moment. He had other ideas, however, and he tried his best to get his feet under himself and stand, but his legs were shaking so much that he only managed to get about half-way before collapsing again. "I'm sorry, I'm s-sorry," he groaned, setting his jaw in determination and preparing to try again even though his legs were shaking even harder this time. I quickly placed my hands on his shoulders, keeping him seated on the floor, shushing him soothingly and shaking my head.

"Just rest a moment, love," I murmured, giving him a stern look and gently pushing him back against the wall so that he could rest against it. He stared down at his twitching legs rather bitterly and sighed. I sat next to him, letting our bodies touch, and took a quick scan to make sure that non one was following us or setting a trap up ahead. There still was nothing, so I laid a hand on the Doctor's leg nearest to me and began to massage the trembling, straining muscles. He jumped slightly, apparently me touching him was still rather surprising, and then he relaxed against me and turned to place a soft kiss on the side of my head. I had no idea whether my hand caressing him would get the poison to be absorbed more quickly, but I had to do something; the helpless feeling I'd had back in the experiment chamber made me want to touch the Doctor – anywhere, it didn't really matter – just to know that he was still there and I was still here and we were alive.

His face was still turned towards me, so I looked up and met his gaze; his green-blue eyes were still so tired, but his expression was rather happy as he looked at me. A little smile played around his lips as he murmured, "I'd hoped to make sure you were okay with the whole idea before... before making you pregnant... Do you regret it?" His eyes grew wistful, a deep longing in them.

"No!" I exclaimed, nearly laughing at him, "You silly, why on earth would I possibly regret this?"

"But you're so young," he explained, "I had hoped that we could talk about it before it actually happened..."

"But this way is fine, too," I assured him, "Either way, a baby is a baby, just as long as I know it's yours I'm carrying... Nothing else really matters. I know it happened kind of fast," I blushed, smirking at him slightly, "but that's fine, and I just hope it's healthy and that everything works out."

The Doctor's thin cheeks flushed slightly, but he spoke quite calmly, "You know, I'm rather amazed. I didn't think... I-I didn't think it would even be possible." He sighed, looking away from my gaze, "I'm an old fool..."

I raised the hand that had been rubbing his leg and raised his chin with a finger. "You're no fool," I murmured, "just a bit mad. And I love you that way."

"I love you too," he whispered softly, his eyes looking gratefully into mine. He leaned forward, kissing me lovingly and resting a hand against my stomach. I returned his kiss with enthusiasm, and his hand on my belly made me fill up with a glowing warmth, like the sun was shining on my skin and making me smile.

"So," I murmured, when we broke apart, "I just have to be sure..." I raised my sonic screwdriver, scanning myself rather awkwardly and then flicking the instrument open to read the results. The Doctor leaned in too, eager to see. It listed my pulse, temperature, blood sugar, intake of oxygen... and the fact that I was indeed pregnant. And only six days along. "Amazing..." I breathed, "No wonder I had no idea, there wouldn't be any symptoms yet!" Grinning at the Doctor, I slowly got to my feet, pulling him up with me. He seemed a bit more steady on his feet, though I kept an arm around his slim waist just in case.

"So," I murmured, gently helping him down the passage, "Any weird Time Lord pregnancy stuff I should know about?"

The Doctor chuckled breathlessly, his brow furrowed as he concentrated on walking properly, "Er, well, I don't really know..."

"But... but Doctor, you had children, long ago, you told me... Wouldn't you know?"

He stopped, looking at me very seriously. "Hero, I was very young then, so young and willing to please my family... Those children... Well, we were so preoccupied with perfecting our genetics, they were born from not a mother, but rather a complicated genome loom which wove them into being. Their... mother... was assigned to me by my family... I knew more about my grandchildren, years later, than I ever did about my wife or children." He looked very sad, and a flash of fear passed through his ancient eyes, like he was worried I'd be angry with him for talking about his long-ago family, all of whom were long dead. I kissed him softly, hoping to put his fears to rest, and indeed his face brightened and he briefly touched my stomach again. "I'm... I'm so happy, Hero... You have no idea..." He grinned, his eyes wrinkling adorably at the corners. "Once we're back on the TARDIS, perhaps she can run some more tests and give us a better idea of what to expect, yeah?" I nodded, smiling back at my gleeful husband, then slipped my arm around him once more and helped him walk down the passage.

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><p>We were definitely lost.<p>

"I'm kind of surprised no one's found us," I sighed, scanning around the tunnel in hopes of getting a signal of the TARDIS. "Unless they know we can't escape, and they're just waiting somewhere..."

"Not a good thought," the Doctor mused, leaning against the wall and rubbing his trembling legs. "The thought has occurred to me that while we were unconscious they carried us a good distance away from the prison cells where we were picked up." I grimaced at his words, realizing that he was probably right. I sighed.

"However," the Doctor continued, using a voice which immediately let me know that he was about to be extremely clever, "Perhaps we can find a way to cut through these walls," He tapped one, "and see where we are. Presumably, of course, in the wall somewhere, but maybe we can jump to the level below..." I nodded, and he proceeded to scan the material of the walls with his sonic, humming and frowning slightly as he set about solving this problem. I watched him think for a few moments, smiling as I saw the gears click in his mind, as he figured out what to do. "Two sonics!" he cried, smiling broadly, "Double the power! May I?" He gestured towards my pink sonic screwdriver, and when I handed it over he tapped the two together experimentally. "Now," he muttered, "this will probably work, or they'll explode. Hmm. Better avoid that last bit..."

Concentrating, he angled the sonics towards each other, getting them to start resonating at the same time. I quickly took a step back as a stream of energy began to flow between them, creating a sort of arc light. "Here we go!" the Doctor cried, carefully aiming the new tool towards the floor, apparently trying to burn through the metallic material. Sparks flew unexpectedly, but I grinned as a cut began to appear. The Doctor made a circular sweep with his arms, and the circle in the middle fell out and below where we were standing. The sonics starting sparking dangerously, so he hastily whipped them apart and then stooped to look at his handiwork.

We were apparently in a large tube which ran through what looked like a mess of wires, but about fifteen feet below us another ventilation shaft was visible. If we could get down there safely, perhaps that one would lead us more where we wanted to go.

I smirked at the Doctor, and he chuckled softly.

"What?" I giggled.

"You've got that expression on your face, Hero."

"No, I don't. Wait, which expression?"

"The 'he's-hot-when-he's-thinking' face."

"Well... because you are."

The Doctor's cheeks flushed, and he smiled rather nervously at me, making me laugh aloud. My Doctor was so silly sometimes, flirting and acting all clever, and then blushing the next moment when I retaliated.

"Let's figure out a way down, love," I chuckled, winking at him.

Somewhere overhead, there was a clattering noise. The Doctor looked quickly at me.

Taking my hand, he retrieved the rope gun from his jacket pocket. "We don't have much time..."


	22. Rescuers

**It's about to get crazy... :P**

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><p>We'd jumped from the upper pipeline, scrambling for dear life and clinging to the climbing rope so that we didn't get hurt on impact. It was then a comparatively simple matter to cut through the metallic ceiling of the the lower tunnel and to drop into it.<p>

"Let's take the next grate out," the Doctor panted, taking me by the hand, and together we ran along the pipeline, hunched over and sonics out in front of ourselves.

"I see one!" My hearts were feeling a bit constricted from the strain of hunched-running, so the first glimpse of that distant metal grate brought quite a bit of relief. We moved a little faster, breathing hard, but stopped at once when we'd reached the grate. I tried to quiet my breathing as we paused, listening intently for any small sound outside of the ventilation shaft. After a moment of pure silence, the Doctor quickly raised his sonic screwdriver and scanned. A quick look at the results made him nod, and I soniced the screws holding the grate in place and slowly slid it aside, hoping it wouldn't clatter to the floor and give away our location. Nothing happened, though, and I was about to peek outside into the hallway when the Doctor seized me around the waist, tugging me back and giving me a stricken look. I opened my mouth in confusion but then shut it quickly as the Time Lord instead peeked out of the opening to make sure the coast was clear. He was protecting me, I realized, and felt a bit foolish.

"_Come on,_" he breathed, carefully stepping out of the opening and holding his sonic out like a weapon as I wiggled out as well. He placed me behind him, his eyes darting about and his breathing all but stopped as we listened. Again, there was nothing.

Based on my own sonic's readings, this hallway was hopefully going to bring us right to a lift which would then drop us off one level above the TARDIS... and Jack and the two-dozen survivors. The Doctor and I began to hurry down the hall, him placing me in the front to lead so that he could walk backwards, keeping an eye on what could be sneaking up behind us. His hand was still holding mine, strong and comforting, and even though my hearts were racing with nerves and excitement, something about his touch quieted me, grounded me.

Urged me onwards.

"_There,_" I breathed, gently tugging the Doctor towards the lift doors, wondering whether they were sealed or not. My husband cast a practiced eye over the controls; they seemed simple enough, at least to me, a lot like a typical elevator. We shared a wide-eyed look, then he bit his lip and shrugged with a sort of "what the hell" expression, and soniced the lift doors.

To my great relief, they slid open silently, and with great caution we stepped inside, allowing the doors to slide closed once more. The Doctor pressed one of the oddly-marked buttons, and the machine let out a metallic groan and began its descent into the lower levels of the facility.

"_That was easy,_" I muttered, raising a pleased eyebrow at the Time Lord beside me. He wouldn't meet my eyes for a moment, though, and when he did, he smiled sadly and shook his head.

"Well, of course it was," he replied, clenching his jaw and then fiddling with the settings on his sonic screwdriver. I frowned slightly, confused, and he glanced quickly at me with defeated eyes, murmuring, "This is what they've had planned, love, we're about to walk into their trap." I didn't speak, only stared at him as I felt my face drain of color. "But _they_ don't know that _we_ know, you know?" the Doctor rambled, running his tongue over his lower lip and biting the inside of his cheek. I grimaced, slipping an arm around his waist and closing my eyes.

_How could I have not realized._

He obviously had been aware this whole time, despite his lightheartedness earlier when we'd talked about the baby, he'd just been calm for my sake. I slapped myself inwardly, knowing that I should have guessed myself, despite my lack of experience with the Daleks; we were in more danger now than ever, and the lift was starting to slow down and in a moment we'd be exposed by its doors to whatever was waiting for us outside.

The doors to the lift slid open, and we both flinched slightly, half-expecting a Dalek to roll up and shoot us on the spot. I had clenched a protective hand over my belly a second before, my other hand clenching tightly in the Doctor's.

Nothing happened. All that greeted us was a large, open room lined with metal walls and some packing crates in one corner. A far door at the end was open, but empty.

We both sighed in relief, slowly moving forward, still hand-in-hand.

"_Show time!_" A loud shout right near us made me jump with surprise and the Doctor shoved me behind himself once more as he braced himself to be seen, shot, something. But instead our shocked eyes beheld... Jack. He was grinning, covered in dirt and carrying several dangerous-looking automatic weapons. "Howdy, strangers," he drawled, winking, and stepping out from his hiding place among the crates. Several other people stepped out with him, a small number of the stronger survivors, I recognized, who were also smiling and armed with various weapons.

"What..." the Doctor murmured, his hold on my hand tightening as our little rescue group made its way over to the open lift. Then the Time Lord stepped out into the room, taking me with him, and he and Jack faced each other. "

"The others?" I murmured quietly, urgently.

"Safe in the TARDIS," Jack replied, nodding to me in greeting, "Glad to see the two of you in one piece, you've been gone for hours. What the hell happened?"

"Oh you know," the Doctor chuckled, "Daleks, mad scientists, the usual... I'm sure we'll have company very soon." I smirked, a hand still resting over my flat stomach. Jack's eyes flickered down to it almost subconsciously, but he didn't mention it.

"Yup, so we'd better get moving," Jack agreed, stepping aside and motioning to the others to get behind him so that he could be the first to walk into the next room. For a moment the group of us walked in silence, moving across the room, and I looked carefully at the group of human survivors. There were seven helping us, three women and four men. They were all young-ish, all different ethnicities with ranges of apprehension on their faces. I didn't know their names, but I felt incredibly grateful to these people who were willing to risk their lives for the Doctor and I to help us escape. Yes, we'd helped them first, but that was before we'd been caught. Before the alarm had been given that prisoners were escaping. It was much more dangerous now, for all of us.

Just as Jack was about to enter the next room, he froze, cocking his head to one side and raising a hand to stop everyone. After a couple of seconds, he slowly turned his head toward each of the humans, then finally towards the Doctor and I. His eyes were grave as he regarded us, and I knew as soon as I looked into them that we had company. Whether our enemies knew that we were now aware of them, I didn't know, but I felt the Doctor's grip on my hand tighten slightly and I squeezed his hand back.

"_Stay behind Jack and I,_" whispered the Doctor, nodding to the humans, "_No one needs to get hurt, all right?_" They nodded, raising their weapons protectively in front of themselves. The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Jack, who nodded and signaled _one-two-three_ with his fingers, and then all hell broke loose.


	23. Even the Beautiful Things

**Okay, everyone, I have only one plea for this chapter: PLEASE DON'T HATE ME.**

**Everything will work out in the end, I promise! Why am I so mean to my characters... why... *sigh***

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><p>"<em><strong>EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINAAAAAATE!<strong>_"

Like madmen we ran, the humans and Jack firing all around us as three large Daleks descended on our location, screaming in their high metallic voices and firing bolts of deadly energy.

"Serpentine!" Jack yelled, laughing, dodging several energy beams within a few seconds. The weapons of the humans didn't seem to do more than anger the Daleks, but the Doctor and I made good use of our sonics and sent one dome-headed alien careening heavily into a wall, sparks flying everywhere.

My hearts clenched painfully as one of the humans, a beautiful young woman with wavy brown hair, screamed and toppled to the ground. Without thinking I grabbed her arms, trying to raise her, to carry her away to safety, but I felt the Doctor's strong hands take my own and begin to pull me away. One glance down at the stricken woman's face told me why; she was already dead. There wasn't anything I could do. A dry sob shook me as the Doctor shoved me out of the way of a Dalek energy beam, as I missed my own death by an inch, and I wondered vaguely what the woman's name had been. I wanted to remember her, but it was now too late and all I'd ever be able to think of would be her still body, crumpled and peaceful in the wake of the Daleks' power.

The Doctor yelled, directing his sonic screwdriver at the nearest Dalek, the one we'd injured before, and its top exploded forcefully. I clutched wildly at the Time Lord's hand, looking up at his youthful face and feeling rather shocked to see the age and anger written there. He didn't give the fallen Dalek a backward glance, but instead kept going, running with me at top speed as we neared yet another doorway leading into an even larger room.

This one looked familiar, and a second later I realized why. Standing at the far end, quiet and strong and blue, was the TARDIS. Jack gave a shout, urging the remaining six humans on; two of them seemed to be injured, but at least they were able to stand on their feet and run, waving their weapons and dodging the continuous Dalek energy blasts.

My hearts froze as I heard the TARDIS emit that sound which now terrified me, a deep, rolling, gong sound that reverberated even through my mind. I cried out, real panic setting in as I remembered what had happened the last time I'd heard that sound; the Doctor had been whisked away from me. The humans were in front us now, Jack running along side us, and the Doctor raised his hand, snapping his fingers. The blue doors of the TARDIS sung open at once, and the first man stumbled gratefully inside, followed closely by the others.

What happened next was a quick succession of actions, but it seemed that time had suddenly slowed down to nearly a crawl, my eyes given the time to take in everything. First, the Doctor lowered his hand, turning with what seemed like infinite slowness towards me, opening his mouth to shout something. I could see Jack pull out what looked like a transmitter from an inside pocket, his finger poised over the largest button; he was about to deploy an explosion device, perhaps to destroy the Dalek facility. I was aware of my breathing, deep and centered in my lungs, fueled by my throbbing hearts. Suddenly I became aware of a scent in the air. So familiar. I inhaled in slow motion, breathing it in, my legs still pumping as I ran, my sluggish brain recognizing _petrichor_.

The blue box is in front of me, still and calm, and I feel the Doctor's hands on my shoulders as he shoves me suddenly to the side, everything arcing past me in a slow, gradual descent of limbs and my hair getting into my face.

Jack yells, "_It's almost time!_" and his mouth moves so slowly, I can see him forming each syllable. I blink as I realize that I'm falling, the Doctor has pushed me over, trying to help me avoid something, and I turn my head slightly towards him, trying to find his face as I fall.

Pain stabs through my abdomen like nothing I've ever known.

I don't cry out, just look down and inhale the scent of petrichor and feel myself collide with the floor, boneless and my arms fall to my sides as the TARDIS screams in my mind, a terrible, mourning sound, the flutter in my belly and in my mind stills - I feel my head strike back on the floor, building heat beneath my skin as I look up towards the ceiling, so distant and dark - the Doctor's panicked hands on my body - someone is yelling my name and I find no voice to answer - the agonizing pain reaching a fever pitch - the blackening of my vision around the edges, and then... nothing.

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><p>Everything felt hazy, my ringing ears, my skin touching against a cold floor, my vision which blinked in front of me as I raised and lowered my eyelids. I sighed, moving slightly, feeling someone scooping my up and holding me against rough fabric. They trembled. Someone was crying silently over me.<p>

At last my vision started to clear properly, and I became aware of... A dim whiteness. Strange. I swallowed, finding my throat dry as I continue to blink. Then I realized that my face was being pressed against the cloth, obscuring my vision, and then I was able to lower my head slightly to see what's going on as the person holding me continued to tremble.

"_Hero..._" My hearts clenched as I heard the broken whisper, felt the hands slowly lowering me to the floor as the Doctor's stricken, tear-streaked face swam into view. Just above him, a white-faced Jack stood up and moved away, like he was now assured that I was alive, and he had things to attend to. I looked up into the Doctor's eyes, knowing why he was crying silently, shoulders shaking, but I didn't know how I could possibly find my voice.

I reached up to touch the side of his face, gently, grateful to see that my own hand looked solid and familiar. "_I know..._" I whispered, watching him try to control himself, watching him swallow hard and look deeply into my eyes. "_I'm so sorry, my love..._" I realized that I was speaking to him with my mind, reaching out to him in the most private way I knew how.

_It isn't your fault,_ he replied, swallowing again and looking braver.

_I know it's gone, I can't feel its presence any more... Why couldn't I have died too? _The new emptiness in my belly, in my mind, when I'd been hit by the Dalek weapon had told me all I needed to know; while I could certainly heal myself without regenerating, something I'd learned long ago, I didn't have the power to preserve any life other than my own. And what had died left me feeling worthless, powerless.

_Don't say that! Please, please don't ever say that... It didn't suffer, it happened so fast, please Hero..._ The Doctor's lip trembled again, _I love you no matter what, that's what I promised... We'll make it through this, somehow._

I nodded, closing my eyes briefly and trying to remember for one moment what it'd felt like to have another life inside of me, growing and so so new. _It wasn't its time, _I conceded, brushing a fingertip on the Doctor's tear-stained cheek, _We can try again, we can always remember it._

_Yes. _I closed my eyes again as the Doctor kissed me, softly and carefully, and then he took me in his arms and simply held me for a long moment. Around us the TARDIS hummed in flight, and I wondered briefly how and when that had happened, but then I felt the time machine's sorrow in my mind as a warm, comforting glow suffused my mind... Idris was giving me a hug.

_Why is it the most beautiful things come to an end?_ I'm not sure who actually said it, me or the Doctor, but our eyes met and neither of us knew the answer.

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><p>"I destroyed the facility while we were in flight," Jack explained, his face still streaked with dirt, but at least he looked relieved, "and dropped off the humans to their appropriate areas of the planet. The Daleks won't be bothering Earth any time soon, Doc, or you and Hero for that matter..." He winked at the Time Lord and I, a small smirk on his face. Normally the Doctor and I would have blushed, but we only smiled kindly at the immortal; he didn't know what had happened earlier, the step forward in our relationship and then the blow later that set us back again. I was clutching at a huge cup of tea made by the Doctor from his special under-the-console cupboard, not really feeling like drinking it but finding its steady warmth soothing. I found it strange that I wasn't crying, like I should be but wasn't, but I felt strangely at peace despite a lingering ache in the back of my mind that I felt sure would take a long time to heal.<p>

"You'll be wanting to get back to Amy and Rory, I'm sure," Jack continued, and the Doctor nodded.

"They must be going half-mad worrying about us," I murmured, finally sipping at my tea and finding it oddly delicious. I bit my lip as a part of me almost rebelled at finding anything pleasurable, but I sternly shook myself. _You can still live you life..._

Unconscious of my inner struggle, Jack laughed and took out a vortex manipulator, snapping it onto his wrist.

"Oh, you still have that?" the Doctor asked politely, putting on a jovial face and pressing a few console buttons. He was obviously trying to appear normal to the human before us, who was now punching coordinates into the manipulator and then looking up at the pair of us with curious eyes.

"Oh yeah," Jack replied, looking slowly from me to the Doctor and back again, "can't get myself to give it up just yet, you know... So addictive! Will you two be alright?" We nodded quickly, and I plastered a small smile on my face and hoped it didn't look weird. "I'm sorry your honeymoon got interrupted by... by an alien invasion," Jack murmured, "and those humans who died..."

"... won't have died in vain," the Doctor added, speaking softly, "Hero and I will make sure that the Daleks don't hurt anyone for a long time, hopefully forever. Now that there's two of us..."

"More the merrier!" Jack chuckled, patting me suddenly on the shoulder and giving me an oddly intuitive, pitying glance. I grew very still, my fake smile slipping slightly as I realized that the swaggering man seemed to notice more than he put on. "Lovely to meet you, Hero Smith, hang in there and stay pretty, and Doctor..." He reached out and took the Time Lord's hands in his own, smiling fondly and a little sadly at him, "Always a pleasure to see you, keep in touch this time, yeah? Before you change another face..." The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it and simply nodded gratefully. There was a flash, and Jack disappeared immediately, leaving the Doctor standing there beside the console with his hands still stretched out.

There was a moment's silence, and then I set down my cup of tea on the console, getting unsteadily to my feet. The Doctor quickly slipped a gentle arm around my waist, steadying me, and our eyes met.

"Doctor..."

"Hero the hero... I love you always, okay?"

I nodded tightly, my throat painful and my eyes starting to burn with tears. Blinking them away, I patted his arm and murmured, "I want a shower," and then I stepped away, turning slowly and heading down the hall towards my own bedroom.

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><p><strong>Please don't be mad! :P<strong>


	24. You and Me, Time and Space

**If the last couple of chapters made you sad, then this one will hopefully make you happy again! :) This story is near its end (though this isn't the last chapter), but don't worry... I still have lots of ideas regarding Hero and the Doctor's adventures together. Thank you for staying with me this far, I really appreciate your lovely reviews and awesome ideas! *hugs***

**Disclaimer: contains a non-explicit lemon ;) because they need it...**

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><p>There was a distinctive numbness slowly creeping through me as I walked down the dim hallway, but deep in the core of me somewhere a mixture of physical and emotional pain made me clench a hand over my hearts, finding their regular rhythm somewhat soothing. At last I caught sight of my bedroom door, carved dark wood and a large silver doorknob, which turned at my touch. I stared rather calmly into my room, taking in the blue bed, the soft white walls, the delicate blue lace curtains on the false window on which was projected a nearby nebula.<p>

After a moment, I swallowed and stepped into the room, feeling the thickness of the carpet beneath my feet, wishing oddly that I was barefoot and could feel the softness of the material under my toes. Without really thinking I stooped down, tugging off my tennis shoes and socks, sighing quietly as my feet sunk into the carpet just the way I'd imagined.

All I really wanted was a steaming-hot shower, as hot as I could stand, so I went into my bathroom and peeked behind the soft white curtain. The shower was really more of a small room, tiled in blue, with a low, wide bench on the wall and a shower head at both sides. Reaching out I twisted the left-hand knob, turning it all the way up, watching silently as steam immediately began to rise. I slowly removed my grimy clothes, staring straight ahead into the shower as I dropped my jeans, the green shirt torn and burned across the midsection, my underthings, leaving them in a pile on the cool floor. I took a slow breath and stepped behind the curtain and under the wide stream of water.

I let the stinging-hot water flow down my shoulders and back, soothing the muscles there and then trickling down my hips and legs to my feet. I closed my eyes at the intense heat, forcing myself to take it for a moment, then reached behind myself and turned it down slightly. I tilted my head back, letting the water flood through my hair, untangling it, a few streams of warmth flowing over my face and dripping off my chin. A second later, I felt more warm drops trickle down my face, they were tears this time, and then everything I'd been holding inside came spilling out as I curled my arms around myself, clutching hard at my sides.

"_Why? WHY? Oh god…_" Sobs shook my body as I continued to hold onto myself, trying to stop the steady flow of tears which were quickly washed from my face by the shower. "F-fuck… I can't _do_ this… I can't, I can't… I _can't_…" The cries of sorrow and pain that I had held back the moment the Dalek had shot me, they came spilling out, choked off into shuddering, agonized whimpers. I couldn't bring myself to weep aloud, that felt too selfish somehow, so I continued to squeeze myself smaller and smaller in a somewhat vain attempt to rationalize the pain I was feeling.

Eventually my breathless sobs dwindled away, though the tears still flowed slowly, and I stood as still as I could, just breathing deeply with my eyes closed. The warm water flowed over my shivering body, unjudgemental and unrelenting, and I allowed my arms to relax their grip on my sides. The pain of loss still throbbed in the very core of me, but my tears were gone; they'd served their purpose.

A sound on the other side of the curtain made my eyes pop open, and I looked quickly through water-flecked lashes to see the shadow of the Doctor. I could tell it was him despite the fact that I could only see his outline; there was his jacket, his floppy hair, and I watched him as he wrung his hands nervously, waiting in silence outside of the shower for a moment. I wondered how long he'd been standing there, listening to me cry, helpless to hold back the pain except to let me get it all out. He shifted, apparently aware that I'd spotted his shadow, and I raised a trembling hand to my face and hair to brush the water back.

"I-I'm sorry..." I heard him whisper, and the pain in his voice hit me like a fist, bringing more tears to my eyes even as I tried to stop them. His shadow shifted uncomfortably, and I could practically hear him gulp. "Um, I didn't want you to be alone, so... so I found your room. Are you angry?" His voice was soft, broken, and without thinking I stepped out from under the stream of warm water, moving towards the curtain which separated us.

"Come in here." I couldn't believe that I could still speak, my voice was so weak and shaky from crying, but right now I needed him in my arms because there was no other place where I'd feel like I had a chance of healing.

He didn't reply, but instead began to remove his jacket. I heard it fall to the floor, followed almost immediately by his bow tie, his shirt, his trousers...

After a few short moments he hesitantly raised a hand and peeked cautiously around the curtain into the shower. The moment his eyes found me, naked and wet from the shower, my eyes certainly red from crying and filled with pain, his dark ancient eyes widened and he lowered his gaze to the floor. I reached across the shower and turned on the second shower head; now the entire shower was bathed in steaming streams of water, a whole little blue room of cleanliness and the smell of soap.

"I... I... you..." The Doctor murmured to the floor, and without a word I gently took his hand and pulled him into the shower with me. He shuddered as the water struck his bare skin, then he sighed as the heat began to work on his tense muscles as it had with mine. I stayed very close to him, even though he was still looking at the floor, and I reached out and gently tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear, willing him to meet my eyes. He did at once, pain etched in his face, biting his lip as he tried to maintain his composure. The sad ache inside me had dulled slightly, and I was able to look into his face quite calmly, allowing my breathing to deepen and slow down.

"_Doctor…_" It came out in a whisper as we stared at each other, both recognizing the loss in each other's face as we stood close together, the spray of two showers hitting us.

"Hero…" he murmured, finally remembering his own limbs and reaching out tentatively to take my hands in his, "My sweet lovely Hero, I… Can you ever forgive me?" He seemed to stiffen his spine, like he was preparing himself for a blow. My eyes widened, realizing that he was blaming himself for me getting shot. I clenched his hands, trying to hang on to something, anything, as I watched his face fall apart with regret and a deep, old sorrow.

"Doctor, that wasn't your fault!" I whispered the words fiercely, tugging him closer to me so that I could look up straight into his eyes, "Don't _ever_ blame yourself for what has happened, okay? Please, you don't deserve that, and I don't blame you at all. You tried to save me, in fact, am I right? It's no one's fault… except the… the _thing_ that actually shot me. No one else is to blame." I could see him trying to believe what I was saying, working through centuries of death and pain and regret. Then he reached up and touched my face, his gaze flickering slightly as he thanked me with his eyes. I could feel his fingers trembling as he held my face close to his own.

"_I love you,_" he breathed, and he softly kissed my wet forehead, sighing into my hair. I closed my eyes briefly, letting myself enjoy this one sensation, my mind telling the rest of me that was still in so much pain that I could let go, that I would heal if I allowed myself to – if I allowed _him_ to help me heal. I heard the Doctor breath in sharply, and I looked up, frowning slightly in concern when I saw his nervous, uncomfortable expression.

His eyes were so wide and dark, half-afraid and half-flooded with some other deep emotion. For one moment I was worried, observing how rapidly his chest was rising and falling. "You okay?" I murmured gently, and his slender face flushed slightly.

He nodded slowly, not able to meet my eyes, "Th-this body is so young, younger than I'm used to…" he whispered, his face pink with embarrassment, "This is hardly the time, but you… you're so lovely and… Oh god, I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong," I replied, my confusion turning into understanding as I glanced down below his waist and realized that, despite our shared sorrow, my husband's very hormonal, young body was reacting to mine. He followed my gaze downwards and closed his eyes briefly in embarrassment. He didn't cover himself, but he swallowed hard and met my gaze, still blushing furiously.

"I know we've lost our child, even though it was so new, and there's nothing…" I took a breath, feeling my throat clench tightly, "I will never stop loving you, Doctor, no matter what happens, not ever." He blinked at me, his mouth opening to say something, but he couldn't seem to find any words, so I leaned forward, closing the gap between us, and kissed him.

Just the contact of our mouths together made him jump, his breath ragged against my lips as he returned my kiss desperately. After a silent moment, I felt him tentatively place his hands on my bare hips, carefully and lightly, like we'd never done this before. Somewhere deep inside me I felt a bittersweet pang when I realized that even though we were married, even though we were growing closer and closer every day, he was still so careful and reverent whenever he touched me – like I would break. Like I would simply fade away.

I wasn't going to go anywhere.

I wrapped him in my arms, bringing myself closer to him beneath the spray of his shower, using my hands to gently brush through his hair, to let the water work its way through his waves as he opened his mouth to mine and I kissed him deeper. My sudden embrace seemed to encourage him, and his limbs soon stopped trembling with sadness as we continued to express our love through our lips. I could feel the effect he was having on my body; heat and need spread all the way across my skin and I sighed against him. This… this moment, it made my hearts absolutely glow when I realized that together we could survive anything, and that the child created from our love would never be truly lost so long as our love remained alive.

We broke apart for a moment, just staying very close, and I listened to the sound of the water on blue tile and his shallow breaths. His eyes were squeezed shut, and his fingers drew comforting circles on the small of my back as we just breathed together. I wanted to take away some of the pain, to express my love through touch, so on a whim I reached down between us and shyly, slowly, took his hard length in my hand. His broken gasp against my hair made me pause, hoping that I hadn't spoiled the moment, since I'd never done this sort of thing before. But as I began to gently stroke him, he lowered his face into the side of my neck, groaning softly and jerking against me in spite of himself - and I figured that I was doing it right.

"_H-Hero..._" He moaned helplessly against my shoulder, his hands moving through my hair with gentle tugs. I had half-expected him to flail his arms about, but he just hung onto me and began to kiss the side of my neck. I continued pleasuring him, loving the feeling of him coming apart in my hands, and he accidentally bit the sensitive skin below my ear when I touched him harder. I closed my eyes at the sensation, feeling the little aching mark which he quickly kissed in apology, his arms tightening around me. I could feel him shuddering harder against me, his quickening breaths and hot mouth pressed against my throat and shoulder. "_Hero… I -I can't… please…_" He pulled away from me, gasping for air as his wet hair dripping over his face. He regarded me with darkened eyes for a moment, his desire for me burning from his skin. Then without warning he claimed my mouth with his, practically drawing the breath out of me as I gasped and clung to him happily.

The next thing I knew, he'd lowered me down onto the low tiled bench, pulling my legs up on either side of his slim hips as he continued to kiss me fervently. I felt my back press gently against the cool tiles, the warm spray of the showers raining down on the Doctor's back and my front. "I want to touch you…" he growled softly, gently kissing my throat and upper chest as one of his hands stroked across my belly. I nodded, biting my lip as intense heat flared up beneath his fingertips, as they trailed lower, dipping gently between my legs. I cried out, arching back with pleasure as he discovered how to make me gasp with only his fingers.

He made love to me with his hands, stroking and caressing me until I was shuddering so hard I couldn't hold my legs up on the bench. One foot slipped off as I gasped his name, and he looked rather surprised as he looked up at my face and saw how much I wanted him. With a heated look he slipped a hand under my knee and tugged my leg up around his waist, moving forward until his hardness could rub against me where I wanted him most.

"Please, love," I murmured, wrapping my legs around him firmly and moving my hips up against his. He responded by jerking hard and moaning, his breathing coming faster. He stayed still for a moment, teasing me, until I whimpered for him to enter me. Panting, he met my eyes and, at last, took me, sliding into me hard and making me his.

There was no build-up of bioenergy this time as we moved together, just wet skin and water and our breaths and moans, but I found that this was somehow simpler, that I could love him more completely when it was just him and me, and the sound of the water on the tile, and his soft murmurs of his own language in my ear as he loved me long and hard. Soon it became too much for either of us, clinging to that brink before the fall over it, and I touched my forehead to his at the last moment before we both cried out and climaxed, perfectly, together.

All I remember after that was the Doctor raising himself off me, scooping me up gently in his arms, and shutting off the shower so that we could step out to dry off. I assume he used a towel to blot the water from my skin, but I just clung to him as my mind was consumed by a blissful exhaustion. A few moments later he'd pulled me into my soft blue bed with him, tucking himself around me and kissing a line down my shoulder as he murmured my name. I stirred, turning half-way towards him, feeling the first genuine smile in a long time on my face as I snuggled deeper into his arms.

"_I love you,_" I managed, slipping into a restful state, and I felt his arms tighten gently around me as he kissed me one last time and drifted off to sleep.


	25. Epilogue

**Please don't be sad, dear readers, but this is the last chapter! More to come! :D**

**Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, and for being totally awesome... Love you all :)**

**Stick around for the next installment...**

**hehehe**

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><p><strong><em>Two days later...<em>**

"... So, that's what happened, and... and we're okay, and we want to try again, you know?"

Amy stared at me with wide eyes, swallowing hard and blinking a bit before resting a hand on my shoulders. "Hero, I... I don' know what to say, but... God, I'm so sorry! That must have been terrible!" I could tell she was genuinely feeling a reflection of the pain I'd felt in the first few hours after losing the baby, so I let her pull me into a tight hug as she awkwardly patted my back and sniffed quietly. "Are ya sure you're okay?" she asked quietly, searching my face for any trace of pain, of unshed tears, but I found myself able to smile my my red-headed friend without faking it.

"I am, I mean it hasn't been easy, but the Doctor has been there and we're figuring it all out together... I won't ever forget what happened, not ever, but at least he's still here and you and Rory, that's all I really need right now."

Amy hugged me again, smiling despite her teary eyes, and I felt a glow somewhere between my hearts; it felt good, cathartic, to be able to tell someone about the hardship the Doctor and I were facing, to look into the eyes of a friend and know that they would now be there for me no matter what – they had my back.

"Amy! Time to go!" Rory called to his wife from across the parking lot, gesturing the pair of us towards where the TARDIS stood, quiet and blue, waiting to take the Ponds home to their little house in England.

"Alright, ya numpty," Amy chuckled, grinning over at her husband, and glancing one last time at me she murmured, "Call me, yeah? Day or night, you need somethin', just ask." I smiled big at that, unable to think of anything to say, but Amy seemed pleased with my happier expression and led the way back towards the TARDIS.

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><p><strong><em>One month later...<em>**

"No, no, still hasn't worked," the Doctor exclaimed, scanning my belly with about three different tools, one of which looked remarkably like a large tennis racket. "It's like I thought before, the _bioenergy_ set things off, making you... ready... but if there's a way we can duplicate that environment, perhaps create an artificial method to extract the energy and expose the ventricles to the radiation and extract the excess burn-off..." He stopped, realizing that I was staring at him as he talked, smirking at him with an eyebrow raised. "You've got that face on again, Hero," he murmured, carefully setting down his scanning tools and folding his arms across his chest with mock anger. I smiled wider, taking a step away from him.

"Oh? Well, you know why..." I giggled, continued to back away from the Doctor.

"Is it because you think I'm hot when I'm clever?" he chuckled, looking far too pleased with himself, and I danced away from his outstretched hand and spun around to the other side of the console.

"Nope," I laughed, "I was staring at you because your bow tie is on crooked." he immediately clapped a hand to the offending article of clothing, frowning when he found it to be in perfect order, then he leaped forward and scooped me up in his arms.

"We'll just have to continue our experiments, hm?" he murmured, his soft lips brushing lightly against my neck as he nuzzled beneath my ear. I smiled happily, closing my eyes, as I felt the Doctor's strong arms tighten sweetly around me.

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><p><strong><em>In the not-too-distant future...<em>**

"_15 months?_" I gaped at him, rather agast.

The Doctor looked rather surprised at my apparent shock, "But... Yes! The six extra months account for the precise brain development, the first integration of the Time Lord regeneration cellular primaries, and even though there's only one heart that needs to form, the other vital organs require extra reinforcement as dictated by their respective sections in the genome structure..."

I cut off the Doctor's rambling with a kiss, surprising him thoroughly as he fell back against the console with a gasp. I had to pull away a moment later because I was smiling much too wide for proper kissing, but I slid my hands around the back of his neck, lacing my fingers through his hair as he stared into my eyes with a mixture of love and pure, absolute fear.

"I... I..." he stuttered, glancing down at my belly and then up to my face again, swallowing nervously as I continued to grin at him. "I wonder which of us it will look like..."

A warm rush of happiness overtook me, and with a barely contained squeal I threw my arms around the sheepish-looking Time Lord, hugging him with all my might. "Oh my god oh my god!" I cried, pulling back and holding him by the shoulders, watching as a happy little smile unfolded on his face, "I can't believe it worked, I'm... I'm _so_ happy!" He smiled for real at this, picking me up and swinging me around in a little circle as the TARDIS hummed in approval.

"_Hero..._" the Doctor murmured, taking me in his arms and setting his forehead against mine.

The TARDIS whirred into flight, and we both looked up in surprise, laughing. The old girl was probably taking us to my mom's, or to Amy and Rory, somewhere we needed to go, somewhere we could share the news.

The TARDIS glowed brighter than ever, reaching out to touch my mind, momentarily rendering me speechless as she showed me her own joy. Then after a second she withdrew, but the feelings she'd showed me remained.

_Fifteen months... Hmm... A lot can happen in that time..._

"Wait!" the Doctor cried, waving his arms around in consternation, "We have to think of a name! Right now! Um, let's see..." He scratched his cheek, looking thoroughly perplexed.

_I love you, Doctor..._


End file.
